Is World Bank “Good Governance” Good for the Poor? Central American Experiences

Abstract This paper explores the World Bank’s concept of “good governance” as applied in rural Central America. It argues that World Bank good governance seeks to constrain unequal accumulation and privilege in the public sector, but leaves largely unaddressed structural inequalities in the private sector and the conflation of economic and political power in the public sector. This paper suggests that the World Bank analysis does not adequately consider more embedded state/civil society relations linked to national and sub-national political cultures. In contexts in which nation-building projects have promoted forms citizenship linked to more activist “leveling” and paternalistic states, good governance is likely to be ideologically contested. World Bank good governance under these circumstances is unlikely to quell discontent or naturalize the neoliberal state.

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Increasing Accountability and Reducing Corruption: the World Bank’s Anti-Corruption System

From Baksheesh to Bribery ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190232399.003.0023 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 605-616

Author(s):

Andrew Boutros

Keyword(s):

World Bank ◽

Rule Of Law ◽

Good Governance ◽

Fiduciary Duty ◽

The Rule Of Law ◽

Fair Process ◽

The World Bank ◽

The Poor ◽

System P ◽

The World

As part of its development efforts, the World Bank has a fiduciary duty to ensure that its funds are used for their intended purposes and with due attention to economy and efficiency. In furtherance of this fiduciary duty, the Bank’s anti-corruption measures seek to incorporate processes that ensure standards of good governance and conformity with principles of the rule of law. Indeed, fraud and corruption weaken institutions and divert essential resources from those who are supposed to benefit the most: the poor. Since the mid-1990s, the World Bank has worked to develop a robust sanctions system that is efficient, effective, and fair, offering accused parties a fair process through which they can present their defense. The World Bank has also sought to work with its partners to deter and prevent misconduct from occurring in the first place. This chapter describes the history and evolution of the World Bank’s sanctions system and its efforts to combat fraud and corruption in its development activities.

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The Hidden Hand of Neoliberal Global Institutions: The World Bank and the Reshaping of Botswana Public Sector

Journal of Public Administration and Governance ◽

10.5296/jpag.v2i2.2040 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 89

Author(s):

M. N. S. Marobela ◽

Rudolph. L. Boy

Keyword(s):

Public Sector ◽

Performance Management ◽

World Bank ◽

Public Service ◽

International Institutions ◽

Free Market ◽

The Public ◽

The World Bank ◽

The World ◽

The Government

This paper examines how powerful international institutions work to influence the reforms trajectory in the developing countries. A key dynamic that brings them to Botswana is the neoliberal agenda of the World Bank, which has been increasingly creeping into the public sector in many countries. For Botswana, this comes not as a surprise as the government is renowned for its strong conviction in the free market as a vehicle for development and prosperity. However, what is surprising is the idea being peddled by government bureaucrats that these changes are mainly initiated from within. It is argued that the involvement of networks of international organisations in Botswana’s reforms dispels this myth. The paper demonstrates how earlier concerns raised by the World Bank, of low productivity in Botswana became materialised with the assistance of a number of consultants from international institutions, who provided varied support to the government of Botswana. For example such assistance came in form of financial, intellectual, and training of government officers. It is from the role played by these international institutions that the national structures and mechanisms have changed the public service. This has eventually led to neoliberal reforms in the form of Performance Management System being the accepted dogma for improving productivity in the Botswana public service.

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Society and Market in the Era of Globalization

Perspectives on Global Development and Technology ◽

10.1163/156915005775093287 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 305-355

Author(s):

Dušan Pokorný

Keyword(s):

World Bank ◽

Economic Institutions ◽

The Public ◽

The World Bank ◽

The World ◽

Many Sources ◽

The Imf

AbstractThis chapter considers the meaning of the terms "society" and "market," and the need for markets to be institutionalized and legitimated. Obligatory norms and recommendatory guidelines today come from many sources: from states, from groupings of states, and from worldwide bodies such as the IMF, the WTO, and the World Bank. But when markets create profound inequalities both within and between societies, how do we determine what limits ought to be placed on markets? Since economic institutions are inseparable from culture, this is the "site" where the public will have to decide what is "society," what is the "market," and what will be the relation between them.

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The World Bank and the Poor.

The Economic Journal ◽

10.2307/2232606 ◽

1981 ◽

Vol 91 (362) ◽

pp. 546

Author(s):

Chris Milner ◽

Aart Van De Laar

Keyword(s):

World Bank ◽

The World Bank ◽

The Poor ◽

The World

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Chopping the world into bits: Africa, the World Bank, and the good governance norm

International Theory ◽

10.1017/s1752971914000153 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 332-349 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Julia Gallagher

Keyword(s):

International Relations ◽

World Bank ◽

International Organizations ◽

Good Governance ◽

The Other ◽

Special Issue ◽

The World Bank ◽

The World

This article explores norms as idealizations, in an attempt to grasp their significance as projects for international organizations. We can think about norms as ‘standards of proper behaviour’. In this sense they are somehow natural, things to be taken for granted, noticed only really when they are absent. We can also think about norms as ‘understandings about what is good and appropriate’. In this sense, norms embody a stronger sense of virtue and an ability to enable progress or improvement. Norms become ideal when they are able to conflate what is good with what is appropriate, standard, or proper. It is when the good becomes ‘natural’ that a norm appears immanent and non-contestable, and so acquires an idealized form.45Along with the other articles in this special issue, I will attempt to challenge some of the complacency surrounding the apparent naturalness and universality of norms employed in international relations.

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