The international Bank for Reconstruction & Development (aka
the World Bank) turns 50 in 1994. On the evidence of the damning,
one-sided tract here, Environmental Defense Fund attorney Rich
won't be invited to any parties that might be held. Drawing on a
variety of sources (including documents leaked by insiders), the
author delivers a harsh critique of the WB and virtually all its
works. Since inception, he says, the multilateral institution has
been party to a quietly destructive "war against the diversity of
humankind's cultures and our planet's biological inheritance." In
aid of this apocalyptic thesis, Rich reviews bank-backed
infrastructure enterprises in the Amazon rain forest, rural India,
Thailand, and other Third World venues, which, he alleges, have not
only wreaked ecological havoc but also displaced multitudes of
indigenous peoples. At the end, the author likens the WB to
Goethe's Faust, who (though blinded by a vengeful Care) continued
to direct what he believed was a reclamation project but which
proved to be his own grave. In probing why the WB became a raging
bull in the Global Village's backcountry china shops, Rich cites
anecdotal evidence of an arrogant, largely unaccountable
bureaucracy that operates in compulsive secrecy and remains
stubbornly dedicated to what he views as an arguable proposition -
i.e., that economic growth is a panacea for most if not all of
modern society's ills. As far as the author is concerned, however,
the price of progress a la the WB is far too high, and he calls for
radical reforms that will either make the institution more
responsive to grassroots wishes or halt its funding altogether. At
no point does Rich make a systematic effort to report on whether
any earthly good has ever come from a World Bank loan - an omission
that inevitably undermines the credibility of a heartfelt polemic
informed by an abiding distrust of development capitalism and its
putatively injurious consequences. (Kirkus Reviews)
This critique of World Bank operations examines the effects of this
organization on the societies in which it operates. Highly critical
of the Bank's practices in its 50 years of operation, the author
demonstrates how the Bank has become virtually unaccountable and a
law unto itself. He describes how the Bank has supported oppressive
regimes and loaned money to support large projects which have
displaced local populations. He argues further that the Bank's
current policies of structural adjustment are arresting the
development of Third World countries.
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