Section 3 — The Global Financial Order Grammar focus

Session 12 Grammar: Passive voice for describing systems and institutions

Global financial institutions and systems are described in the passive voice — because the focus is on the structure, not the people who built it. This grammar lets you discuss the financial order with authority.

Grammar Focus

was designed to / is governed by / was established in order to / is structured so that

When analyzing financial systems and institutions, use the passive voice with purpose infinitives (to + verb) to describe both what something was built to do and whether it actually does it. This allows you to make critical points without direct accusation — a key skill in professional financial discourse.

Structure: [Institution/system] + was designed/established/structured + to [purpose]
Critical turn: ...was designed to [stated purpose], but in practice it [actual outcome]

The IMF was established in 1944 to promote international monetary cooperation and provide a safety net for countries in financial difficulty.

The Bretton Woods system was designed to create exchange rate stability — structured so that all major currencies were pegged to the dollar, which was itself convertible to gold.

The World Bank was created to finance reconstruction after World War II, but its mandate has since expanded to include development lending across the Global South.

Voting rights at the IMF are structured so that the United States retains an effective veto — a system designed to reflect the 1944 balance of power, not today's.

Dollar hegemony is maintained through a network of institutions, trade agreements, and financial infrastructure that was built over eight decades of American dominance.

Conditionality is attached to IMF loans in order to ensure fiscal discipline — critics argue it is used to impose a particular economic ideology on sovereign nations in crisis.

Purpose and function expressions

is intended to... serves to... functions as... operates in order to... exists primarily to...