PTJesus and his 12 Reflections

This week was great.  Starting out with a lecture from Tickner, a presentation from the World Bank, and the discussions we had on Friday all created a substantive week in world politics.  While I would love to continue my discussion on Tickner into my reflection, I was really intrigued by the World Bank presentation.  I personally believe that the World Bank is an important institution, but I'm curious as to whether or not it is effective.  More specifically, whether it provides an equal representation to countries that it's comprised of.

One of the main criticisms of the World Bank is that it is comprised of 186 countries but is organized and run by a very few economically powerful countries.  These countries are able to choose leadership and senior management and a result of that is that their countries' interests are a priori.  The problem with it being an international institution is that it needs to remain both active and politically neutral.  Foreign investment, international trade, and capital investment should occur in developing countries where needed, not based upon political biases or senior management.  While I'm not advocating that the World Bank is corrupt or purely biased, and I understand that there are a limited amount of resources that the World bank controls that need to be meticulously allocated throughout the world, I'm curious as to whether there are ways to increase the effectiveness of the institution.  Whether that means more money needs to be allocated or a more democratic decision-making process needs to be established, I'm unsure at the moment.  As a political organization, the World Bank needs to be able to meet the demands of the various donors and borrowing governments annually, it must additionally be a action-oriented institution which remains politically neutral while specializing in development and technical assistance.  Studies have indicated that this balance has caused the World Bank to adopt policies that dictate which poverty is "best alleviated" through the implementation of market prices.  While I feel that there are many philosophical objects as to this policy, whether it be a capitalist, neoliberal, or even a poverty rhetoric criticism, I feel like this market-based poverty reduction policy has prevented a truly holistic implementation of the World Bank's resources.  Understandably, as resources are limited, maybe a holistic policy is utopian.  Regardless, the World Bank's role is a truly interesting one which was highlighted in the lecture this week.