Search

Abstract Intra-household water use and management from a gender perspective has remained a relatively under-researched theme in developed countries. Australia is no exception, with the lack of research particularly evident [...]

The Meltzer Commission report released in March 2000, contends that the World Bank had a failure rate of 55 to 60 percent for projects in all developing countries and that the bank should be transformed into something that is hardly a bank at all, it could probably remain as an overseer of neoliberal policy, and let the private sector handle most of the cash. Critics on both right and Left agree on the Bank's pitfalls, though they hold different understandings of why projects have failed.

The Poverty Reduction Strategy Initiative of the Bretton Woods institutions launched by the World Bank and IMF in 1999 was to alter the lending practices of the institutions in Ghana, and to understand policymaking in highly indebted, aid-dependent African countries. In order to reform the donor-led policy regime, the people would have to pressurize the borrowing governments to change the way they interact with donors.

A critique of World Bank procedure is presented, specifically the process of linking financial aid to recipient nation policy. A case is made for decoupling aid from national policy and creating a supranational endowment fund, which would finance research findings on development of common international goods.

We apply recent advances in propensity-score matching (PSM) to the problem of estimating the distribution of net income gains from an Argentinean workfare program. PSM has a number of attractive [...]

The water wars rationale predicts that countries will wage war to safeguard their access to water resources, especially if there is water scarcity, competitive use and the countries are enemies due to a wider conflict. Following this argument, India and Pakistan should have fought a war over the Indus basin instead of negotiating the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty. In explaining this Indo-Pakistan cooperation which is specifically over water, the critical feature that emerges is that through cooperation the countries were able to safeguard their long-term water supply. In other words, cooperation is water rational. Using the Indus basin experience, the underlying logic of the water wars rationale is questioned, in particular, the use of public statements by key decisionmakers as evidence of future water wars and is shown to be wanting. KEY WORDS: India, Pakistan, Indus Waters Treaty, World Bank, water wars, water rationality, cooperation

The World Bank is working on latest and innovative ways of measuring the quality of governance using policy relevant actionable indicators. Research in political science on measuring governance could also significantly improve the assessment of the real impact of bank interventions.

The study examined the reasons for the absolute failure of the World Bank program on market-led agrarian reform in the Philippines. Results revealed that although meant for the poorer classes it mainly benefited the upper and elite classes due to anti World Bank propaganda launched by local authorities.

Does the implementation of a World Bank structural adjustment agreement (SAA) increase or decrease government respect for human rights? Neoliberal theory suggests that SAAs improve economic performance, generating better human rights practices. Critics contend that the implementation of structural adjustment conditions causes hardships and higher levels of domestic conflict, increasing the likelihood that regimes will use repression. Bivariate probit models are used to account for World Bank loan selection criteria when estimating the human rights consequences of structural adjustment. Using a global, comparative analysis for the 1981-2000 period, we examine the effects of structural adjustment on government respect for citizens' rights to freedom from torture, political imprisonment, extra-judicial killing, and disappearances. The findings show that World Bank SAAs worsen government respect for physical integrity rights.

Elite corruption in Uganda is an integrated part of the existing government in power and therefore political leaders have not shown enough commitment to act to curb such practices. Despite considerable efforts from by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the bilateral Western donors, there is continued existence of a high level of corruption throughout Africa.

The outgoing President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, since June 1995, used the bank as a platform for global leadership in fighting poverty. Now, the new president should try to boost global economic growth, reduce poverty and also address concerns about the banks financial future.

The World Bank has concluded that Ukraine cannot develop a healthy national economy unless it reduces governmental corruption and for this it has decided to help the Ukrainian government enabling to understand the West's technique for controlling corruption. The reason for which Ukraine government is not adopting the code of governmental ethics is explained.

This article examines the relationship between money and politics on a worldwide scale. The author addresses the problems of political financing and political corruption that exists internationally, arguing the World Bank and International Monetary Fund shoud become more involved in investigating international campaign financing.

In 1950's, the world bank ventured into new territory under the leadership of its president, Eugene Black Jr., when it sought to meditate the Anglo-Iranian oil crisis and to provide Western funding for the Aswan dam in Egypt. Thus, how the World bankers constructed their identity and that of their institution as a global corporate manager of international economic relations is described.

Paul Wolfowitz has made things worse for himself and the World Bank due to the small corruption scandal he is involved in. He has irretrievably lost control of the Bank, and its mismanagement highlighted due to the scandal is raising questions about its existence.