IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/halshs-00235436.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The governance of the World Bank : analysis and implications of the decisional power of the G10

Author

Listed:
  • Arthur Foch

    (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

This article discusses the World Bank's formal rules of governance. It states that theoretically, each of the World Bank's member states is represented within the decision making process but in practice it is otherwise. Indeed, we demonstrate that in reality the democratic imbalance in favor of the Most Developed Countries (MDCs), caused by the voting system of the WB, is much stronger than it appears. In the first place, our analysis of the formal decision making process demonstrates that the voting system is such that a coalition of particularly coordinated countries - the eleven countries of the G10 - can, on its own, constitute a majority permitting them to vote decisively on all issues. This implies that the remaining 174 members have no influence on voting results. Thus, this minority coalition alone is in position to approve loans and their attached conditions. In the second place, four features of the World Bank's governance which protect and re-enforce the power of this coalition are found. On the one hand, this analysis provides some explanations to the failure of various initiatives made to increase the voice of the Less Developed Countries (LDCs). On the other hand, it identifies several means susceptible of increasing the power of these countries in the institution. The main interest of this study shows that the democratic imbalance caused by the voting system is more important than it seems. Indeed, not only do the World Bank's formal rules of governance give the G10 the voting weight at all three levels of decision making but several governing features also permit the G10 to protect and re-enforce the power that they already have. Due to their right of veto, the MDCs can notably block any reform proposals.

Suggested Citation

  • Arthur Foch, 2007. "The governance of the World Bank : analysis and implications of the decisional power of the G10," Post-Print halshs-00235436, HAL.
  • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00235436
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00235436
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00235436/document
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert K. Fleck & Christopher Kilby, 2006. "World Bank Independence: A Model and Statistical Analysis of US Influence," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(2), pages 224-240, May.
    2. Dreher, Axel, 2002. "The development and implementation of IMF and World Bank conditionality," HWWA Discussion Papers 165, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWA).
    3. Woods, Ngaire, 2000. "The Challenge of Good Governance for the IMF and the World Bank Themselves," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 823-841, May.
    4. Harrigan, Jane & Wang, Chengang & El-Said, Hamed, 2006. "The economic and political determinants of IMF and world bank lending in the Middle East and North Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 247-270, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Renato Câmara Nunes Dias & Carlos César Santejo Saiani & Carlos Eduardo Carvalho & Ana Lúcia Pinto da Silva, 2016. "Analysis of the distribution of World Bank disbursements in Latin America between 1985 and 2010 [Analysis of the distribution of World Bank disbursements in Latin America between 1985 and 2010]," Nova Economia, Economics Department, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Brazil), vol. 26(2), pages 393-427, May-Augus.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arthur Foch, 2007. "La gouvernance de la Banque mondiale accorde-t-elle le pouvoir décisionnel aux PID membres de l'OCDE ?," Post-Print halshs-00155767, HAL.
    2. Yooneui Kim & Youngwan Kim, 2021. "The autonomy of international organizations? The analysis of major powers’ influence over the World Bank’s aid policies," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 24(3), pages 224-240, September.
    3. Arthur Foch, 2013. "Explaining the G7 and G10's influence on World Bank decisions: The role of formal and informal rules of governance," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00824678, HAL.
    4. Arthur Foch, 2013. "Explaining the G7 and G10's influence on World Bank decisions: The role of formal and informal rules of governance," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 13035, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    5. Arthur Foch, 2013. "Déterminants et perspectives de la privatisation des infrastructures à Djibouti : Leçons tirées de trois études de cas," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 13036, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    6. Ali Burak Güven, 2012. "The IMF, the World Bank, and the Global Economic Crisis: Exploring Paradigm Continuity," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 43(4), pages 869-898, July.
    7. Christopher Kilby, 2006. "Donor influence in multilateral development banks: The case of the Asian Development Bank," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 173-195, June.
    8. Anwar, Mumtaz, 2005. "The Political Economy of International Financial Institutions? Lending to Pakistan," HWWA Discussion Papers 338, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWA).
    9. Atangana Ondoa Henri, 2019. "Heavily indebted poor countries initiative (HIPC), debt relief, economic stability and economic growth in Africa," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 89-121, May.
    10. Axel Dreher & Peter Nunnenkamp & Rainer Thiele, 2008. "Does US aid buy UN general assembly votes? A disaggregated analysis," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 136(1), pages 139-164, July.
    11. Strand, Jonathan R. & Zappile, Tina M., 2015. "Always Vote for Principle, Though You May Vote Alone: Explaining United States Political Support for Multilateral Development Loans," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 224-239.
    12. Kevin Morrison, 2013. "Membership no longer has its privileges: The declining informal influence of Board members on IDA lending," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 291-312, June.
    13. Sara Kahn‐Nisser, 2022. "Contextualizing Donors’ Interests: The United Nations’ Shaming of the United States’ Trade Partners," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 13(1), pages 48-61, February.
    14. Kersting, Erasmus K. & Kilby, Christopher, 2016. "With a little help from my friends: Global electioneering and World Bank lending," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 153-165.
    15. Buntaine, Mark T., 2011. "Does the Asian Development Bank Respond to Past Environmental Performance when Allocating Environmentally Risky Financing?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 336-350, March.
    16. Kilby, Christopher, 2009. "The political economy of conditionality: An empirical analysis of World Bank loan disbursements," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 51-61, May.
    17. Sara Kahn-Nisser, 2019. "When the targets are members and donors: Analyzing inter-governmental organizations’ human rights shaming," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 431-451, September.
    18. Derek Headey, 2008. "Geopolitics and the effect of foreign aid on economic growth: 1970-2001," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(2), pages 161-180.
    19. Kilby, Christopher, "undated". "The Political Economy of Conditionality: An Empirical Analysis of World Bank Enforcement," Vassar College Department of Economics Working Paper Series 92, Vassar College Department of Economics.
    20. Arthur Foch, 2013. "Explaining the G7 and G10's influence on World Bank decisions: The role of formal and informal rules of governance," Post-Print halshs-00824678, HAL.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00235436. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.