IMF 'doves' versus German 'hawks'? The Fund and Europe's politics of austerity

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has a major role in promoting 'sound' economic policies. But as Ben Clift writes, there have been important evolutions in the IMF's economic ideas since the global financial and Eurozone crises. The IMF is now often at odds with some European leaders over key issues, undermining the notion that economic policy can be viewed as a purely technocratic and scientific undertaking, and reducing the IMF’s impact on policy in Europe.