Refers to the Bank's failure to adequately and explicitly address human rights in its policies, as well as the causality between Bank supported extractive projects and the exacerbation of conflict. Looks at case studies from Democratic Republic of Congo, Guatemala and Chad and Camerooon.
Analysis
Social services
Analysis
Secretive World Bank tribunal confronts calls to open up
Civil society groups are backing official calls for reform of the World Bank's International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes - however, the future of the reforms looks uncertain due to resistance from developing countries.
IFI governance
Analysis
Kept in the dark: The World Bank, the IMF and parliaments
Parliamentarians from across the globe have signed on to the International Parliamentarians' Petition. They believe that parliamentarians should be the final arbiters of economic decisions. Current practice, however, means they are not. The World Bank and IMF continue to pressure developing country governments to overrule or sideline their legislatures; a far cry from the principles of good governance which the institutions themselves espouse.
Conditionality
Analysis
The World Bank policy scorecard: The new conditionality?
The World Bank scorecard on borrowing country policies and institutions plays a key role in the allocation of overseas development assistance. Critics argue that the scorecard is a way to coerce borrowers into adopting the Bank's preferred model of economic development.
IFI governance
Analysis
Development Gateway: biased, unaccountable and overpriced?
A study prepared for the Bretton Woods Project has found that the Development Gateway, an internet portal on development issues initiated by the World Bank, presents a biased picture of development debates, lacks independence and is inefficient when compared with other similar initiatives.
Finance
Analysis
UK and the IMF 2003- 5th annual report to parliament
fifth annual report to Parliament on UK operations at the IMF
IFI governance
Analysis
The World Bank’s knowledge roles: dominating development debates
Since 1996 the World Bank President has emphasised his institution’s roles as a “knowledge bank“. But just as one person’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter, what some see as knowledge is viewed by others as propaganda for a particular world view.
Rights
Analysis
World Bank, IMF: Helping peace or creating conditions for war?
Recent involvement in countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq has put World Bank and IMF post-conflict operations in the spotlight. While some believe multilateral finance is essential, others argue that the Bank and the Fund are acting primarily as pawns of powerful diplomatic and economic interests.
Rights
Analysis
World Bank, IMF and armed conflicts
Recent involvement in countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq has put the World Bank and the IMF work post-conflict in the spotlight, with serious implications for their mandates and work methods.
Knowledge
Analysis
Leading a horse to water: Is there a role for the IMF in poverty reduction?
Many observers were sceptical when a few years ago the IMF embarked on a mission to respond to the "cries of the poor", in the words of its then head Michel Camdessus
Rights
Analysis
World Bank social and environmental policies: abandoning responsibility?
The World Bank is planning a controversial major overhaul of its ten social and environmental policies.
Trade
Analysis
Harmonisation and coherence: White knights or Trojan horses?
In recent months, the World Bank has been leading the charge to increase the harmonisation of donor policies and further coherence between the Bank, the IMF and the WTO.
