International Law as Insulation – The Case of the World Bank in the Decolonization Era

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 459-484
Author(s):  
Dimitri Van Den Meerssche
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Global South ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
International Legal Order ◽  
Legal Concepts ◽  
Legal Interventions

Abstract This article maps out how (international) legal concepts and norms were employed during the inter-institutional struggle between the United Nations and the World Bank in the decolonization era. The first contribution is historiographical. Drawing on material from the Bank’s (oral) archives, the article gives an original account of the ways in which the organization bypassed the universalist aspirations that were gaining a foothold in the UN’s democratic bodies. Secondly, the paper retraces how this particular event gave rise to a clash between opposing imaginaries of international legal order, where axiological aspirations voiced by states from the Global South were ultimately frustrated by a functionalist understanding of international (institutional) law that justified the Bank’s institutional insulation. Finally, the paper aims to provide a modest methodological contribution to the field of international institutional law – a doctrinal discipline that traditionally pays little empirical attention to the historical and sociological performativity of concrete legal interventions.

scholarly journals MULTILATERALISM AND THE UN IN SOUTH AFRICA'S FOREIGN POLICY

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Landsberg
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Trading System ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
Multilateral Institutions ◽  
The World

Post-apartheid South Africa pursued a pro-multilateral stance in world – regarding multilateral institutions as crucial instruments for reinforcing its new-found image as a champion for southern African and African causes. Challenging the hegemony and dominance of western powers in particular, powerful countries in general, was at the heart of South Africa’s multilateral strategies. Central to all multilateral engagements was respect for international law and the centrality of the United Nations (UN), stressing the promotion of human rights, debt relief, peace and stability, an equitable global trading system and sustainable development. Also of priority was reform of the UN and institutions of global governance, including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Conference on the Role of Industrialisation in Developing Countries

1964 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 440-442
Author(s):  
Ronald Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
United Nations ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Business Executives ◽  
Agricultural Revolution ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
The United Nations

At the fourth Cambridge conference on development problems, the role of industry was discussed by ministers, senior officials, economic advisers, and business executives, from 22 African, Asian, and Caribbean countries, the United Nations, and the World Bank. Have some, if not all, of Africa's new nations now reached the stage when it would pay them to put their biggest bets on quick industrialisation? Or must they go on putting most of their money and brains into bringing about an agricultural revolution first, before striving for industrial take-off? These questions started the conference off on one of its big themes.

Recognized and Violated by International Law: The Human Rights of the Global Poor

2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 717-745 ◽  
Author(s):  
THOMAS POGGE
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
World Bank ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
The World

Various human rights are widely recognized in codified and customary international law. These human rights promise all human beings protection against specific severe harms that might be inflicted on them domestically or by foreigners. Yet international law also establishes and maintains institutional structures that greatly contribute to violations of these human rights: fundamental components of international law systematically obstruct the aspirations of poor populations for democratic self-government, civil rights, and minimal economic sufficiency. And central international organizations, such as the WTO, the IMF, and the World Bank, are designed so that they systematically contribute to the persistence of severe poverty.

scholarly journals A managerial approach for the coherent development of sustainable development law

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-99
Author(s):  
Stephanie De Moerloose ◽  
Makane Moïse Mbengue
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
International Law ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Integrated Development ◽  
Multilateral Development Banks ◽  
Law System ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
Development Banks ◽  
European Investment

While judicial bodies have proliferated in the last fifty years in a process that has been deemed “quasi-anarchic” (Guillaume, G., 2000) creating a risk of inconsistency in their decisions which would endanger the international law system, quasi-judicial bodies such as Multilateral Development Banks' accountability mechanisms are not spared by this legal phenomenon. They have diverse proceedings and jurisdictions, operate with different sets of environmental and social safeguards, but may confront similar factual scenarios, especially in the case of co-financing. The recent Kenya Electricity Expansion Project presented before the World Bank and the European Investment Bank’s accountability mechanisms illustrates that, through a managerial approach, potentially conflicting findings can be avoided. This paper aims to show that quasi-judicial bodies can constitute a source of inspiration for the integrated development of international law.

El Salvador's “Model” Democracy

2005 ◽  
Vol 104 (679) ◽  
pp. 77-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Holiday
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
United Nations ◽  
El Salvador ◽  
World Bank ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
Us Government ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Peace And Reconciliation

In the immediate aftermath of the 1992 peace accords, El Salvador was cited frequently by the United Nations and even the World Bank as a country that, with the international community's help, effectively managed its transition from civil war to peace and reconciliation. Thirteen years later, only the US government views the Salvadoran model so favorably.

New Member of the International Committee

1970 ◽  
Vol 10 (111) ◽  
pp. 326-326
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Plenary Session ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
Assistant Director ◽  
Federal Administration

At its plenary session on 14 May 1970, the International Committee of the Red Cross elected Mr. Victor H. Umbricht as a new member.Mr. Umbricht was born at Untersiggenthal in the canton of Aargau in 1915. After studying at various universities he obtained a doctorate in international law. He was a member of the Tribunal of Baden and then, from 1941 to 1953, was in the Swiss diplomatic service. He subsequently became assistant director of operations at the World Bank, Washington, for Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. In 1957 he was appointed Director of the Federal Administration of Finances in Bern.

The World Bank, Pensions, and Income (In)Security in the Global South

1995 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 697-725 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne S. Paul ◽  
James A. Paul
Keyword(s):  
World Bank ◽  
Structural Adjustment ◽  
Pension Reform ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Global South ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
Funded Pensions ◽  
Support Mechanisms

The authors describe and analyze recent reductions and reorganizations of public pension programs in Latin America, as well as trends in pensions in the global South more broadly. They consider the role of the World Bank in the current pension “reform” process and situate the Bank's policies in the context of privatization, reduction of social budgets, and other aspects of structural adjustment. Chilean pension changes are analyzed in particular, showing that even by the Bank's criteria, the reforms have not been successful. The authors then discuss pension changes in China, where the World Bank is also deeply involved. The article concludes with the consideration of a number of arguments about pensions and support mechanisms in later life—including family support and means-tested welfarism—and argues in favor of global policy approaches, such as globally funded pensions and full access by older persons to productive and remunerated labor.

Resistance Is Futile – You Will Be Assimilated

2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 259-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
SUSAN MATHEWS
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
World Bank ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
Light And Shadow ◽  
The International Monetary Fund

Sigrun Skogly, The Human Rights Obligations of the World Bank and the IMF, London, Cavendish Publishing, 2001, ISBN 1859416659, 240 pp., £71.50 (pb).Mac Darrow, Between Light and Shadow:The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and International Human Rights Law, Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2003, ISBN 1841133906, 376 pp., £42.00.00 (hb).Balakrishnan Rajagopal, International Law from Below: Development, Social Movements and Third World Resistance, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2003, ISBN 0521016711, 360 pp., £19.99 (pb).

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