The World Bank and Non-Governmental Organizations: The Limits of Apolitical Development

249 Pages·1995·21.182 MB·English

by  Paul J. Nelson (auth.)

INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY SERIES
General Editor: Timothy M. Shaw. Professor of Political Science and Inter
national Development Studies. anel Director of the Centre for Foreign Policy
StIldies. Dalhousie University. Nova Scotia. Canada
Recenttitles inc/ude:
Pradeep Agrawal. Subir V. Gokarn. Veena Mishra. Kirit S. Parikh and Kunal Sen
ECONOMIC RESTRUCTURING IN EAST ASIA AND INDIA: Perspectives
on Policy Reform
Solon L. Barraclough and Krishna B. Ghimire
FORESTS AND L1VELlHOODS: The Social Dynamics of Deforestation in
Developing Countries
Jerker Carlsson. Gunnar Köhlin and Anders Ekbom
TUE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF EVALUATION: International Aid Agenicies
and the Effectiveness of Aid
Steve Chan (editor)
FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN A CUANGING GLOBAL POLITICAL
ECONOMY
Edward A. Comor (editor)
THE GLOBAL POLITICAL ECONOMY OF COMMUNICATION
Paul Cook and Frederick Nixson (editors)
TUE MOVE TO THE MARKET? Trade and Indllstry Policy Reform in
Transitional Economies
O. P. Dwivedi
DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION: From Underdevelopment to
SlIstainable Devclopment
lohn I-Iealey and William Tordoff (edi/ors)
VOTES AND BUDGETS: Comparative Studies in Accountable Governance in
the South
Noelcen Heyzer. James V. Riker anel Antonio B. QlIizon (editors)
GOVERNMENT- NGO RELATIONS IN ASIA: Prospects and Challenges for
Peoplc-Centcrcd Dcvclopmcnt
Gcorgc Kcnt
CIIILDREN IN THE INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY
Gary McMahon (editor)
LESSONS IN ECONOMIC POLlCY FOR EASTERN EUROPE FROM
LATIN AMERICA
David B. Moore and Gerald J. Schmitz (editors)
DEBATING DEVELOPMENT DISCOURSE: Institlltional and Poplilar
Perspectives
JlIan Antonio Morales and Gary McMahon (editors)
ECONOMIC POLlCY AND THE TRANSITION TO DEMOCRACY: The Latin
American Experience
Archibald R. M. Ritter and John M. Kirk (editors)
CU BA IN THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM: Normalization and Integration
Ann Seidman and Robert B. Seid man
STATE AND LAW IN THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS: Problem-Solving and
Institlltional Change in the Third World
Tor Skalnes
THE POLlTICS OF ECONOMIC REFORM IN ZIMßABWE: Continllity and
Change in Development
lohn Sorenson (editor)
DISASTER AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE HORN OF AFRICA
Howard Stein (editor)
ASJAN JNDUSTRIALlZATION AND AFRICA: Studies in Policy Alternatives
to Strllctural Adjllstment
Deborah Stienstra
WOMEN'S MOVEMENTS AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Larry A. Swatllk and Timothy M. Shaw (editors)
THE SOUTH AT THE END OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: Rethinking the
Political Economy of Foreign Policy in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin
America
Sandra Whitworth
FEMINISM AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
The World Bank and
Non-Governmental
Organizations
The Limits of Apolitical Development
Paul J. Nelson
A.I'sociale Direclor for DevelojJmenl Policy
ChI/reh World Service ami LUlheran World Relief
WashingIOn, DC
First publishcd in Great Britain 1995 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, lIampshire RG21 6XS
and London
Companies and reprcscntatives
throughout the world
A catalogue record 1'01" this book is available
from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-39588-0 ISBN 978-0-230-37515-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230375154
First published in the United States of Amcriea 1995 by
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
Seholarly and Reference Division,
175 Fifth Avenue,
New York, N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-312-12620-9
Library of Congrcss Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nelson, Paul J, 1956--
The World Bank and non-governmental organizations : the limits of
apolitical development / Paul J. Nelson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographieal rcferenecs and index.
ISBN 978-0-312-12620-9
I. World Bank. 2. Non-govelllmcntal organizations. I. Titlc.
11. Serics.
HG3881.5.w57N45 1995
332.1 '532-<1c20 95--7825
CIP
© Paul J. Nelson 1995
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover 1 st edition 1995 978-0-333-64577-2
All rights reserved. No repmduction, copy or transmission or
this publication may be made without writtcn permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be rcproduced, copied or
trallsmitted savc with written pcllnission 01" in accOI"dance with
the provisions of the Copyright, Designs amI Patcnts Act 198M,
or under the terms of any licence pennitting limited cO\lying
issued by the Copyright Liccnsing Agcncy, 90 Tottenham Court
Road, London W I P 9HE.
Any person who does any unauthOl"ised act in relatioll 10 Ihis
publication may be liablc 10 criminal prosccution amI civil
claims for damagcs.
10 9 8 7 6 5
04 03 02 01
Contents
List of Tables alld Figures VI
Preface vii
Ackflowle dgel1lellts IX
AcrollYI1lS alld Abbreviatiofls XI
Introduction and Overview
2 The World Bank Takes Center Stage 13
3 •A ccountable to Whom?' And Other Issues for NGOs 36
4 World Bank-NGO Project Cooperation: Less than Meets
the Eye? 67
5 Moving Money: Organizational Aspects of a Development
Model 87
6 The World Bank and Apolitical Development 112
7 Organizational Culture and Participation in Development 142
8 Conclusions 176
Appendix / Key to Interviews Cited ill Text 198
Appelldix 2 Methodological Note 199
Notes 200
Bibliography 202
fndex 221
V
List of Tables and Figures
Tables
2.1 Top Five Voting Powers, IBRD, 1945, 1971 ami 1993 14
2.2 World Bank Lending by Sector, 1961-65, 1975-79, and
1989-93 16
4.1 NGO Participation in World Bank-Financed Projects
1973-90, by Type of Involvement 72
4.2 Breakdown of NGO Roles in Project Design, for World
Bank-Financed Projects Reported to Involve NGO Design,
1989-90 and 1991-92 78
4.3 Major Involvement in World Bank-Financed Projects,
Community-Based Organizations Alone and
Community-Based Organizations and Intermediary
NGOs Together 80
4.4 NGO Involvement in Major Roles in World Bank-Financed
Projects, by Involvement of International NGOs, National
NGOs, and Both 82
4.5 Professional and Interest-Based NGOs, and Major Roles in
World Bank-Financed Projects 83
4.6 NGO Involvement in World Bank-Financed Projects, by
Region and Year of Approval, 1973-90 83
4.7 World Bank-Financed Projects with NGO Involvement,
1973-90, by Region and Major and Minor Roles 84
Figures
4.1 World Bank-Financed Projects with NGO Involvement, by
Year of Approval 75
vi
Preface
The fiftieth anniversary year of the Bretton Woods organizations has
been a turbulent one for the World Bank. 1995 has al ready been marked
by u politicul shift in the Congress of its largest financial contributor,
a major financial crisis in Mexico, the resignation of the late Lewis
Preston und the nomination and appointment of James D. Wolfensohn
to become its new President in June of 1995.
It is difficult to predict the significance of any of these events and
changes for the Bank. Internal and extern al reformers, including NGOs,
have pressed for reforms in environmental policy, changes in policy
and practice with respect 10 structural adjustment and popular partici
pation, freer access to information and channels for complaints about
Bank-financed projects. Reforming efforts found some support at the
top during Preston's presidency. A new, somewhat less secretive in
formation disclosure policy was enacted and an independent inspec
tion panel crealed 10 hear complainls. Preston emphasized poverty
reduction and the environment in speeches and policy documents through
out his tenure.
The incoming President has announced his intention to reshape the
Bank. Wolfensohn's long-time interest in environmental and social
development issucs has raised hopes and expectations among many
observers. But he takes over a large and conservative bureaucracy whose
entrenched interests, myths and organizational dynamics have resisted
and reshaped changes promulgated by previous leaders.
How the new President's agenda will take shape, and how it will
intersect and interact with NGO and social movements' agendas and
with the changing politics of multilateral cooperation, remain to be
seen. The research on Bank-NGO relations reported here, together with
a review of policy changes in the 1970s and 1980s, points to some of
the organizational features that have resisted change. These same fea
tures - including a relatively rigid project cycles, the protective organ
izational myth of apolitical development, and a hierarchical and insular
information management system - should be among the targets for
determined leadership within the Bank. They also suggest indicators
by which reformers and observers can assess the response.
NGOs and social movements that have targeted the Bank appeal'
prepared to continue pressing for changes in policy anel practice at the
vii
viii Preface
Bank. The present political turn in Washington threatens to reduce
drastically US participation in most multilateral and international coopcra
tion, and has slowed the momentum of critique and reform momcntarily.
But interaction between the Bank and nongovernmental bodies, both
cooperative and conflictive, continues to grow. Anel as networks of
NGOs seek influence over the Bank, NGOs themselves are inevitably
reshaped by their relations with World Bank programs and practice.
PAUL J. NELSON
Acknow ledgements
The research and writing of this book has spanned seven years, begin
ning as a Ph.D dissertation and ending as a focus of four years of
activist research in Washington, DC. I hope that I have recognized
specific intelIectual debts clearly along the way, but there are a few
people to whom I wish to give particular thanks.
At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Russ Middleton, BiII
Thiesenhusen, David Stark, David Trubek and Joanne Csete offered
instruction and encouragement. Doug HelIinger and his colleagues at
the Development GAP were generous with advice and office hospital
ity during research in Washington, as was BiII Rau. The Mennonite
Central Committee program in the Philippines gave much-needed hos
pitality and guidance during a visit there.
Many NGO colIeagues have made the work enjoyable and reward
ing. Marcos Arruda, Steve Commins, Nancy Alexander, Marijke Torfs,
Chad Dobson, Rajesh Tandon, Paul Spray, Lisa McGowan, Ross
Hammond, Veena Siddharth, Jo Marie Griesgraber and Alex Rondos
have inspired through their energy and seltless work, and reminded by
example that even serious work should be fun.
Church World Service and Lutheran World Relief, and my colleagues
in their Office on Development Policy, have supported continued en
gagement with the World Bank, and this writing owes much to my
experience as apart of that advocacy effort. The research and writing,
however, have been done in my individual capacity, and the book and
the views expressed are neither a project of nor attributable to any
agency.
James Rikcr and Kathryn Sikkink olJered valuable advice in a research
working group, and I have benefitted from conversations with Gerald
Schmitz, David WilIiams and David Gillies. The dissertation research
was funded by the John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation,
which has also supported continuing conversation among researchcrs
on international conflict and cooperation. Thanks to Series Editor Tim
Shaw for probing comments on the manuscript, and far his commit
ment to exchange among participants in and scholars of international
affairs, across boundaries of the university, government and NGO.
Many statt· and consultants at the World Bank have helped clarify
issues, pointed the way to documents or individual sources, and given
ix