IFI governance

Background

Recommended resources on the World Bank and IMF 2013

23 January 2014 | Resource

PAPERS

Abuse-free development: How the World Bank should safeguard against human rights violations; Human Rights Watch

Illustrates how the Bank neither acknowledged the human rights risks, nor took steps to mitigate the problem in three case studies, and proposes that the Bank includes human rights in safeguards.

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2013/07/22/abuse-free-development-0


Rubber barons: How Vietnamese companies and international financiers are driving a land grabbing crisis in Cambodia and Laos; Global Witness

Shows how land grabbing for rubber plantations in Cambodia and Laos is driven by two internationally-financed Vietnamese companies.

http://www.globalwitness.org/rubberbarons/


Protecting power: How Western states retain the dominant voice in the World Bank’s governance; Jakob Vestergaard, Robert Wade

Reveals how the representatives of Western states manipulated the “voice” reform process, and discusses alternative voting power systems for the Bank.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X13000375


Assessing the effectiveness of World Bank Investments; Gender Action

Evaluates the extent to which the Bank integrates gender concerns into its investments, pointing out structural, financial and policy gaps that risk negatively impacting women.

http://www.genderaction.org/publications/assessingeffectiveness.pdf


The future we the people need; Friedrich Ebert Stiftung

Highlights the perspectives of new social, trade union and protest movements in regions that have experienced social upheaval due to recent crises.

http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/global/09610.pdf


The age of austerity: a review of public expenditures and adjustment measures in 181 countries; Institute for Policy Dialogue and South Centre

Reviews public expenditures and planned spending cuts in 181 countries and calls for governments to adopt alternative policies for socio-economic recovery.

http://policydialogue.org/files/publications/Age_of_Austerity_Ortiz_and_Cummins.pdf


Frontlines report: April 2013; ITUC

Illustrates how workers are at the frontlines of a war on their living and working conditions, including IMF attacks on collective bargaining.

http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/en_ituc_frontlines_full_report_april_2013_web.pdf


A cautionary tale: the true cost of austerity and inequality in Europe; Oxfam

Argues that European austerity programmes have dismantled the mechanisms that reduce inequality and calls on governments to choose a path of inclusive growth.

http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/a-cautionary-tale-the-true-cost-of-austerity-and-inequality-in-europe-301384


Do we need a mechanism for solving sovereign debt crises? A rule-based discussion; Ugo Panizza

Discusses why the international financial architecture needs a structured mechanism for dealing with sovereign insolvency, and highlights how the IMF undermines debt resolution.

http://repec.graduateinstitute.ch/pdfs/Working_papers/HEIDWP03-2013.pdf


The new debt vulnerabilities: 10 reasons why the debt crisis is not over; Eurodad

Looks at the new debt picture in the sixth year of the global financial crisis.

http://eurodad.org/Entries/view/1546060/2013/11/11/The-new-debt-vulnerabilities-10-reasons-why-the-debt-crisis-is-not-over


BOOKS

The World Bank, Asian Development Bank and human rights; Sanae Fujita

Argues that specific human rights standards should be developed in order to hold IFIs accountable for the impacts of their operations. Edward Elgar, ISBN: 978-1849804240


Change and continuity at the World Bank: Reforming paradoxes of economic development; Peter Hammer 

Demonstrates how the Bank’s research and development agendas are set by neoclassical economics, limiting reform possibilities derived from alternative academic traditions. Edward Elgar, ISBN: 978-1781009260


Foreclosing the future: the World Bank and the politics of environmental destruction; Bruce Rich

Argues that the Bank, by funding projects that warm the planet and destroy natural resources on which the poor depend, is hurting the people it claims to serve. Island Press, ISBN: 978-1610911849


Women and austerity: The economic crisis and the future for gender equality;  Maria Karamessini and Jill Rubery (eds.)

Evaluates the impact of the financial crisis and austerity on women in Europe and the US, particularly in the context of employment and welfare systems. Routledge, ISBN: 978-0415815376


ELECTRONIC RESOURCES

http://www.troikawatch.net/

Covers news about the Troika, the affected countries and the struggle against it; and aims to strengthen the resistance against austerity across Europe.


http://bankonhumanrights.org/

Alerts communities to projects funded by many different multilateral development banks (MDBs) that may affect their rights, informs them about the applicable safeguards and standards, and facilitates submissions to the banks’ grievance mechanisms.