Since last year, international observers have anticipated Dominique Strauss-Kahn's resignation as IMF chief this summer. Polls in his native France showed him easily defeating Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2012 French presidential contest and DSK (as he was fondly called) was expected to throw his hat in the ring this July. His resignation this week however came for an entirely different reason, one that has effectively ended his political career.

Regardless of the reason, proponents of IMF reform have been preparing for this summer's anticipated vacancy. Since the Fund's creation in 1945, the post has been held by a European per a "gentlemen's agreement" that likewise gave leadership of the World Bank to an American in perpetuity. With the shift in the global financial order and growing influence of new economic powers (the BRICS group, for example), demand that all nationalities have a shot at the post is growing.