and threatened the stability of other major international financial centres. When the Asian countries came under attack some of them were not able to defend themselves and subsequently had to seek the financial assistance of the IMF and accept its stabilization programmes. However, it was found that the mechanisms for resolving crises were wanting and the IMF in particular lacked the resources, mandate and expertise to deal with a global capital market problem. In some cases the crises worsened.
             This suggests that the traditional Bretton Woods system, which has sustained the world economy through fifty years of growth and prosperity, needs reform. As a result, numerous suggestions for reshaping the international financial system have been put forward. Among the main suggestions are plans to strengthen national banking and financial systems, mechanisms to reduce contagion, capital controls, the need to minimize moral hazard, new exchange rate regimes and reform of the IMF itself.
             The following examines the various international financial architectural issues in the light of the East Asian economic crisis of 1997-98. As the international financial system consists of numerous broad areas, this paper focuses on the International Monetary Fund and selected issues surrounding its reform. Section II defines the objective of this paper while section III explains the methodology used to establish the objective. Section IV carefully examines the international financial system and financial crises that have occurred, while taking a more precise look at the East Asian financial crisis, the IMF's Response, critique of the IMF and lessons from the crisis, as well as the reform of the financial architecture. Finally, Section IV concludes and draws an opinion on the issues presented followed by the references and the appendix, Sections V and VI respectively.
             The objective of this research paper is to examine the restructuring of the roles...