The Paris Club: An Insider's View

Pradip Sarbadhikari is a professor of Political Studies at Lakehead
University.

This concise monograph provides a clear understanding about a
little-known intergovernmental group responsible for a major global
problem: the rescheduling of international debt. The Paris Club deals
specifically with “credit extended by governments or by private
lenders with a creditor government guarantee.” A brief introduction
and overview, which includes rescheduling agreements made since 1987, is
followed by a discussion of the four principles governing the Club’s
operations: default, appropriate conditionality, equitable burden
sharing, and agreement by consensus. The study continues with a
description of the Club’s procedures, rescheduling terms, and dealings
with the poorest countries; it ends with comments about future
directions and a bibliography. This is an informative book—important
to readers specializing in international economic relations but simple
enough for nontechnical readers. For those seeking a fundamental
evaluation, it is less than a modestly critical account.