Aid and Power: The World Bank and Policy-Based Lending : Analysis and Policy Proposals

The global recession of the early 1980s prompted a revolution in aid policy. The major aid organizations, and The World Bank in particular, increasingly made aid payments conditional on changes in policy generally of a type that reduced the level of government intervention in the economy. "Aid and Power" considers the impact of this on the relationship between donor organizations and developing countries, concentrating on the delicate bargaining stage that is now the focus of the aid process. It also examines whether policies which The World Bank has promoted have been a success. Volume 1 is arranged theoretically. It looks at the factors which shaped structural adjustment lending and considers the essential features of the bargaining process at its heart. Criteria for the assessment of the success and failure of programmes are developed and it looks at the results of policy-based lending across a wide range of countries. It concludes with some policy recommendations. Volume 2 contains the results of nine major case studies, involving countries in three continents. It is apparent that individual countries' experience of structural adjustment is unique. This work should be of interest to lecturers and students of development economics, international relations and the politics of development.