The International Monetary Fund needs to focus on politics for the first time in order to combat the rise of unilateralism around the world, Eurasia Group President Ian Bremmer told CNBC on Wednesday.
"The geopolitical recession is really just picking up steam. And that's about a lack of global leadership. It's unilateralism from the U.S. and everyone else and it's also the delegitimization of a lot of development governments — the anti-establishment tendencies that we're seeing in the U.S., we're seeing in Europe — it's making it a lot harder for organizations like the IMF to do their jobs," he said in an interview with "Closing Bell."
Bremmer believes if the organization is not able address politics, it would hinder its ability to create the economic stabilization the world "desperately needs."
It could also open the door for China to "pump a bunch of money" into countries, but without the standards and transparency the IMF has, he added.
"They need to recognize that political instability and the changes in the political order are going to directly undermine their mandate," he said. "If they are not able to comment on that in the same way that they comment on a country which is not putting policies in place that will allow them to grow or meet the IMF mandate, then you've got challenges."
Bremmer produced a paper with his findings at the request of the IMF.
"We'll see what we get from all of these member states, but the initial responses actually make me pretty optimistic," he said.
— Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook.