The debt crisis that has hammered southern Europe since 2010 will have long-lived economic effects, despite the moderation in Spanish and Italian government borrowing costs since the European Central Bank's "Outright Monetary Transactions" initiative last September.

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Talks in Baghdad reflect Iran's new willingness to discuss its nuclear program, but sanctions may not sting enough to make it change course, says expert Hassan Hakimian.

This weekend's G8 summit will be dominated by negotiations over the eurozone sovereign debt crisis and limiting contagion to the global economy, says expert C. Randall Henning.

New IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde has to move quickly to establish independence from the European authorities who got her the job, enhance the IMF's legitimacy, and display her ability to manage the fund, says CFR's Steven Dunaway.

European Union Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn says French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde "would make a very good managing director of the IMF for the whole world, not only for Europe." "The European Union and its member states see that Christine Lagarde, the finance minister of France, has very strong professional qualifications and has earned the respect of her peers as the chairperson of the G20," Rehn said.

The arrest of IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn on charges of sexual assault could hamper the fund's short-term ability to help manage the eurozone crisis but is not likely to harm the IMF over the long term, says CFR's Steven Dunaway.

Debt restructuring and longer-term eurozone reforms will be needed to contain Europe's sovereign debt problems and restore European stability and prosperity, says CFR's Marc Levinson.

The nearly $1 trillion EU bailout plan appears to have achieved immediate aims of restoring confidence in markets, but concerns persist about deeper reforms needed to tackle the region's sovereign debt crisis.

The IMF and European leaders have gotten serious about Greece's debt, says CFR's Charles Kupchan. But the crisis also raises concerns about the eurozone's unity.

Rating agency S&P's decision to downgrade Greek debt to "junk" may lead to softened pre-conditions for an IMF-EU bailout and a swifter European response, says CFR's Marc Levinson.

Developed countries should embrace a stronger IMF while pressing for more equitable voting rights that would boost the institution's legitimacy, says former IMF board member Domenico Lombardi.

Watch Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, for a British perspective on the global economy in light of the financial crisis.

Listen to Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, for a British perspective on the global economy in light of the financial crisis.

In this Wall Street Journal op-ed, Sebastian Mallaby writes that persuading China to change its currency policy would be a worthy goal for a 21^st-Century Bretton Woods. It will be up to the two great powers -- the U.S. and China -- to fashion a deal that brings China into the heart of the multilateral system.

The Financial Times' Martin Wolf argues that massive accumulations of currency reserves enabled housing bubbles in developed economies and sparked the current financial crisis. The shakeout, Wolf says, could take years.

The International Monetary Fund’s legitimacy and status must be strengthened now so that it can be an effective manager when the next global crisis breaks out, urges a new Council Special Report. “Economic and financial conditions can change with alarming speed, and crises are bound to recur,” warns report author and Council Senior Fellow Peter Kenen, a renowned economist. “It would be far harder to reform the Fund in the midst of a new crisis than to do so now. It is easier to modernize a fire brigade when there are few fires than in the midst of a major conflagration.”

Ten years after crippling financial crises swept East Asia, the International Monetary Fund faces fresh criticisms about its future relevance.

With IMF Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato resigning in October, a new report analyzes the reform measures that will be bequeathed to Mr. de Rato's successor, and argues that the reform measures deserve the support of the United States, including the U.S. Congress when it is asked to implement some of the key measures.