In the 1930s, many countries faced economic problems. The standard of living declined, and a great many people were unemployed. International trade became much smaller. Some countries reduced the value of their currencies. All these factors combined in the 1930s, and an economic depression resulted. By late 1939, the Second World War had started.
As the Second World War ended, most countries found that international values faced many restrictions and were not smooth. Leaders of many countries thought over these matters and discussed them in meetings and agreed on the Bretton Woods system. Thus, after the Second World War, many countries felt the need to have an organization to get help in monetary matters between countries. To begin with, 29 countries discussed the matter, and signed an agreement. The agreement was the Articles of Association of the International Monetary Fund. The International Monetary Fund came into being in 29th December 1945.
Any country may apply to become a member of the IMF. When a country applies for membership, the IMF’s Executive Board examines the application. If found suitable, the Executive Board gives its report to IMF’s Board of Governors. After the Board of Governor clears the application, the country may join the IMF. However, before joining, the country should fulfill legal requirements, if any, of its own country. Every member has a different voting right. Likewise, every country has a different right to draw funds. This depends on many factors, including the member country’s first subscription to the IMF.
The IMF does a number of supervisory works relating to financial dealings between different countries. Some of the works done by IMF are:
A Board of Directors manages the IMF. One tradition has governed the selection of two most senior posts of IMF. Firstly, IMF’s managing director is always European. World Bank's president is always from the United States of America.
Current managing director is French economist Christine Lagarde.
The major countries of Europe and America control the IMF. This is because they have given more money to IMF by way of first subscriptions, and so have larger share of voting rights.
Many people and countries have commented about IMF. Some are good and some are bad comments about the work of IMF. Despite many bad comments about IMF, research shows that more than 60 percent of Asians and 70 percent of Africans feel that IMF has had a "positive" effect on their country.
São Paulo F.C.
São Paulo Futebol Clube, usually called São Paulo FC or just São Paulo, is a very traditional Brazilian football team from São Paulo. The team was founded on January 25, 1930, and re-founded on December 16, 1935. It is often called "Tricolor" (meaning "with three colours") by its supporters. The prime footballer in the team is the goalkeeper called Rogério Ceni.
It is the most successful club of Brazilian football.
Twenty-two won state championships, six Brazilian Championships - besides being the only one to win it three times, in 2006, 2007 and 2008, three Libertadores and three World Club Championship.
FIFA Club World Cup
Intercontinental Cup
Copa Libertadores
Copa Conmebol
Recopa Sudamericana
Supercopa Sudamericana
Copa Masters Conmebol
Campeonato Brasileiro Série A
Copa do Brasil
Copa dos Campeões
Torneio Rio-São Paulo
Campeonato Paulista
Supercampeonato Paulista
World Bank Group
The World Bank Group is a group of five international organizations. The World Bank Group gives advice and finance to member countries for economic development and reducing poverty. It is a non-profit-making international organization owned by member governments. The Group has its headquarters in Washington, D.C.. It also has offices in 124 other member countries.
The World Bank Group is made of the following five organizations:
The World Bank Group originated at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. Many countries met and decided to start a Bretton Woods system including an international organization to provide finance to member countries. The Bank came into existence on 27th December 1945. Its name was the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The Bank’s first loan was to France. The loan was of 250 million US Dollars. The purpose was to help France to again build industry and other important things like roads destroyed during the Second World War.
The activities of the World Bank Group cover many activities. Some of these activities are as follows:
The World Bank Group gives loans at low rate of interest to member countries. The member countries use the money received for any one of above or some other similar activity.
In short, the World Bank Group’s main mission is 1) to fight poverty and 2) to improve the living standards of people in the developing world. Beside giving direct money and finance, the World Bank Group provides advice and assistance to developing countries on almost every aspect of economic development.
In general, the World Bank Group is part of the United Nations system. But, member countries govern it through a board. The IBRD has 184 countries as its members. Other four organizations of the Group have between 140 and 176 member countries. A Board of 24 Executive Directors controls the activities of the World Bank Group. A President heads the Board.
Many economists and people have criticized the World Bank Group for its style of functioning. Before giving loans, the Bank sometimes requires many changes in the policies of a country. This has attracted criticism as it reduces the country’s independence to run its economy in its own way. The criticism is also on account of other factors. One of them is that two or three countries have more power to decide matters. As of November 1, 2004 the United States held 16.4% of total votes, Japan 7.9%, Germany 4.5%, and the United Kingdom and France each held 4.3%. As major decisions require an 85% super-majority, the US can block any change.
In spite of several criticisms, the World Bank Group’s role in economic development and reduction of poverty has continued in many countries.
International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice (French La Cour internationale de justice (CIJ), is an international organization. It is the main judicial organ or branch of the United Nations. In short, International Court of Justice is ICJ; sometimes people call it the World Court. In French language, it is "Cour internationale de justice". Established ICJ in 1945, ICJ has its headquarters at The Hague, Netherlands. The ICJ began its working from 1946. It replaced an earlier similar court named Permanent Court of International Justice. The International Court of Justice is different from the International Criminal Court. The ICJ uses two languages, the English language and the French language.
The International Court of Justice has two major functions. Firstly, it settles disputes, which the member countries may bring before it. Secondly, it may give its opinions on legal matters. Since 1980s, many developing countries have been using the services of the ICJ. But, in 1986, the United States of America did not accept the court’s views on all matters, but rather selectively, on a case-to-case basis. Since the year 2000 the docket went down from 23 to 12 cases. In the meantime the staff tripled.
The ICJ has fifteen permanent judges. The UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council elects the judges. A judge serves for a nine-year period and may be re-elected if necessary. If a serving judge dies, another judge, from the same country he or she belonged to is generally elected to fill the vacant position. Elections are staggered, thus five judges (one-third of the Court) come up for election every three years.