Confronting the ‘Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse’: Critical Literature on the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organisation

2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 737-745 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benedicte Bull
Keyword(s):  
World Bank ◽  
International Monetary Fund ◽  
World Trade ◽  
World Trade Organisation ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
The International Monetary Fund ◽  
Critical Literature

Defining Accountability Up: the Global Economic Multilaterals

2004 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 132-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miles Kahler
Keyword(s):  
World Trade Organization ◽  
World Bank ◽  
International Monetary Fund ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Democratic Accountability ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
National Governments ◽  
The International Monetary Fund

AbstractCritics of the global economic multilaterals (GEMs) – the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization – allege that these organizations fail the test of democratic accountability. Two distinct measures of democratic accountability have been applied to the GEMs. To the degree that these organizations display ‘accountability deficits’, those deficiencies are the result of choices by the most influential national governments. Three techniques have been deployed to enhance the accountability of the GEMs: transparency (more information for those outside the institution), competition (imitation of democratic accountability) and changes in rules of representation (accountability to stakeholders rather than shareholders). Each of these may impose costs, however, and may conflict with other valued aims of the organizations.

Jubilee 2000

1994 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 699-700 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bill Peters
Keyword(s):  
World Bank ◽  
International Monetary Fund ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
Grass Roots ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
The International Monetary Fund ◽  
Intellectual Climate

With five years to go until 2000 is upon us the debt campaign is at present concentrating on two elements important for success. The first is capturing and extending what might be described as grass-roots interest: signs already have appeared of some sympathy with, and even support for, the campaign among economists, bankers, civil servants, diplomats, and politicians; discreet encouragement from the inner courts of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank has been recorded. The second is a change in the international, political, and intellectual climate to favour remission.

scholarly journals Book review: Unholy trinity: The IMF, World Bank and WTO Richard Peet

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 567-569
Author(s):  
M Breitenbach
Keyword(s):  
World Bank ◽  
International Monetary Fund ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
World Trade Organisation ◽  
Political Interest ◽  
The International Monetary Fund ◽  
The Imf

In this timely book Richard Peet and his team lay the foundation with an excellent analysis of the process of globalisation and the resultant emergence of the global economy. The authors are especially critical of the increasing influence of institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and World Trade Organisation (WTO) on the economy and the consequences experienced by peoples, cultures and the environment. The single ideology of neo-liberalism is blamed for the undesirable outcomes. This book considers concepts of power, political interest, hegemony, discourse, responsibility and the power of practicality, in critically examining the IMF, World Bank and WTO. The conclusion is reached that “all three institutions play roles greatly different from those originally agreed to under the charters that set them up”.

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