The World Bank and Its Poverty Eradication Strategies
Abstract
Since the 1970s, the World Bank has had a new goal: poverty eradication. This essay evaluates the Bank according to this objective. Persisting poverty judges the organisation's work negatively. The Bank's many policies were often even contradictory over time, bringing strong criticisms, which its current policies reflect. These are the lessons of former failures in the Banks poverty reductions policies: The Bank's strategies now concentrate on both the market and the state to promote "development". The causes of underdevelopment lie not only in bad governance, but also in states' unfavourable economic positions. It is important to cooperate with the poor while trying to reduce poverty. "Development" is not only an issue of domestic economic reforms: political and social reforms are also important. The World Bank's newest Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) reflect these changes. They should achieve the ambitious Millennium goals, but time will be their judge.
Keywords
World Bank, poverty reduction, structural adjustment, development policy, Millennium Development Goals, PRSP, international organizations, development countries
Author Biography
Tomáš Lindner
He is in his sixth year of studying political science at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University. During the 2003/2004 academic year, he completed a study program at the University of Konstanz. In 2005, he organized the Czech Republic Against Poverty campaign in Karlovy Vary and occasionally publishes articles in MF DNES, Respekt, A2, and other weekly publications. His research focuses primarily on contemporary Africa and Germany.
Michal Strnad
He is in his sixth year of studying political science at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University. During the 2003/2004 academic year, he completed a study program at the University of Konstanz. He worked as an editor in the international section of Mladá fronta DNES and currently works in the foreign editorial department of the daily Právo. His research focuses primarily on Australia and Oceania.