The Changing Geography of Debt and IMF's Involvement: From Global to European South

Abstract

The risk reassessment process having taken place after the outburst of the crisis of 2008 highlights the role of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a last resort lender. In this article, we try to evaluate the fiscal and political presuppositions of the IMF's recent history toward crediting countries, focusing particularly in the case of Greece. We try to unravel the specific neoliberal dogma suppressing the Greek people, and the practices through which it succeeds in this direction, concluding that debt accumulation is acting rather as a disciplinary force than as a request for repayment. Furthermore, we focus on the issues that come up along with debt relief process, and the policy shifts in the IMF's history, arguing that different strategies of capital are unfolding: a moderate New Keynesianism based on the capitalist “utopia” of the unburdened state, and another offensive neoliberalism based on an antagonistic relationship between the creditor and the debtor with reference to “biopolitics.”