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Governance-Related Conditionalities Of The International Financial Institutions

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Author Info
Devesh KAPUR
Richard WEBB
Abstract

This paper examines the new found enthusiasm for governance-related conditionalities in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank lending. This new agenda has focussed in particular on legislative and institution-building efforts by borrowers to increase accountability, transparency, the rule of law, and participation. The paper attempts to document this trend by analyzing a sample of 25 upper-tranche arrangements in 1999. A review of past efforts to impose conditionality in related areas provides a discouraging background to this even more ambitious attempt by the international financial institutions (IFIs) at governmental and social re-engineering. Critical weaknesses in the new agenda are highlighted, particularly the complexity and potential conflicts that follow from a multiplication of goals, and also the distortions and ineffectiveness that result from a narrow focus on borrower governments, to the exclusion of private actors and civil society, who are also part of the problem. A brief account of some alternatives to conditionality, as currently practised, are also examined. Finally, the paper raises some troubling implications of this new agenda for the IFIs themselves, especially with regard to their operational effectiveness, their legitimacy and their fairness.

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Paper provided by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in its series G-24 Discussion Papers with number 6.

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Date of creation: 2000
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Handle: RePEc:unc:g24pap:6

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Dhonte, Pierre, 1997. "Conditionality as an Instrument of Borrower Credibility," IMF Papers on Policy Analysis and Assessments 97/2, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
  2. Dewatripont, Mathias & Jewitt, Ian & Tirole, Jean, 1999. "The Economics of Career Concerns, Part II: Application to Missions and Accountability of Government Agencies," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 66(1), pages 199-217, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Marchesi, Silvia & Thomas, Jonathan P, 1999. "IMF Conditionality as a Screening Device," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 109(454), pages C111-25, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1999. "The World Bank at the Millennium," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 109(459), pages F577-97, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Messick, Richard E, 1999. "Judicial Reform and Economic Development: A Survey of the Issues," World Bank Research Observer, Oxford University Press, vol. 14(1), pages 117-36, February. [Downloadable!]
  6. Fafchamps, Marcel, 1996. "Sovereign debt, structural adjustment, and conditionality," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 313-335, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Pierre Dhonte, 1997. "Conditionality as an Instrument of Borrower Credibility," IMF Policy Discussion Papers 97/2, International Monetary Fund.
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Paul LÖWENTHAL, 2005. "Société civile et participation politique.. Le cas de la coopération au développement," Mondes en développement, De Boeck Université, vol. 129(1), pages 59-73. [Downloadable!]
  2. Jean-Pierre Allegret & Philippe Dulbecco, 2007. "The institutional failures of International Monetary Fund conditionality," Post-Print halshs-00238490_v1, HAL. [Downloadable!]
  3. Jiro Honda, 2008. "Do IMF Programs Improve Economic Governance?," IMF Working Papers 08/114, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
  4. Yýlmaz Akyüz, . "Global Rules and Markets: Constraints over Policy Autonomy in Developing Countries," Working Papers 2007/5, Turkish Economic Association. [Downloadable!]
  5. Geoffrey R D Underhill & Xiaoke Zhang, 2006. "Norms, Legitimacy, and Global Financial Governance," WEF Working Papers 0013, ESRC World Economy and Finance Research Programme, Birkbeck, University of London. [Downloadable!]
  6. Benu Schneider, 2005. "Do Global Standards And Codes Prevent Financial Crises? Some Proposals On Modifying The Standards-Based Approach," UNCTAD Discussion Papers 177, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. [Downloadable!]
  7. Richard Kozul-Wright & Paul Rayment, 2004. "Globalization Reloaded: An Unctad Perspective," UNCTAD Discussion Papers 167, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. [Downloadable!]
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