The rift over how to solve the Greek debt crisis widened Sunday between Berlin and the rest of the E.U. Angela Merkel of Germany thinks Greece should stand alone, but many other E.U. leaders feel it is the duty of the E.U. to financially bailout Greece. The chancellor stuck to her position Sunday that talk of aid to Greece was premature and would ultimately weaken the euro. Many in the E.U. think this could end up destabilizing the E.U. and lead it in the opposite direction to that of those who inspired a united Europe and its common currency. Opposition to involvement in a potential rescue by the I.M.F. was in retreat, and it appeared likely that the I.M.F. would play a central role. Support for that prospect came Sunday from the secretary general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development saying he was confident Greece would emerge from its fiscal crisis as long as it received a support package. He said the I.M.F. should play a role.
This situation reminds me of Ha-Joon Chang's book, Bad Samaritans. We see the I.M.F. and the E.U. wanting to play a significant role in the bailout of Greece. Even though Greece is not a third world country as often referenced in Ha-Joon's book, it is nonetheless under the influence of larger institutions wanting to contribute to its bailout. Ha-Joon would probably support Germany's decision for Greece's sake. He would want Greece to be protectionist and pull themselves out of their economic crisis themselves instead of being indebted to larger organizations and subject to their latent imperialistic goals.
I agree that Chang would most likely advocate that Greece supports itself during this time. I wonder, though, if the fact that Greece is not a Third World country would change the success of protectionism or change how the IMF can extract money from it to pay off its debt. Chang mainly talks about developing countries. Would the IMF behave differently toward a democratic, developed country? Or would it still try to force its way into Greece's internal affairs?
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