The evidence presented in the previous chapter demonstrates that there is a strong association between economic ideas and institutional choices that is very unlikely to have occurred by chance. But as important as it is to demonstrate that ideas and institutions are closely associated, it is vital to demonstrate precisely how they are tied, and to show that the economic ideas did not merely coincide with the institutions, but were directly implicated in the decisions of leading government officials to create, join, or reject different international economic institutions. To do this, we need to deepen our investigation – to identify the key actors, demonstrate their motivations and intentions, and draw on subtle patterns in the timing and sequence of events to show causation.

The purpose of this chapter is to draw on a broad range of data sources – wherever possible relying on internal government documents and direct interviews with officials – to reconstruct the process by which institutional choices were made across the decade as a whole. In a region where most governments still place a premium on secrecy, it is no small task to trace the process by which critical decisions were made.