|
...organizations. Applying the concept of accountability as understood and refined in political science can illuminate both the existing accountability of the institutions and some of the ways in which they could better be held to account.
Accountability to Governments
Like many international organizations, the IMF and the World Bank face complex problems of accountability that originate in a simple question: to whom should they be accountable and how? Democratic political systems ensure accountability not just by elections but by mechanisms such as transparent decisionmaking, judicial review, and the use of ombudsmen. The aim is to ensure that political actions are predictable, nonarbitrary, and procedurally fair, that decisionmakers are answerable, and that rules and parameters on the exercise of power are enforced.
Unlike a democratically elected government, international institutions cannot claim that voters elect them and can vote them out of office. Nor have they been subjected to the normal restraints politicians face from the checks and balances of government, including the role played by judges, ombudsmen, and the like. Rather, international organizations grapple with an unwieldy structure of government representation that makes ensuring their own accountability extremely difficult. Until roughly the 1980s, the mission of the IMF and the World Bank was narrowly technical, and accountability, accordingly, less of an issue. Today, however, both the Fund and the Bank are being pushed by their most powerful members to perform a much wider range of tasks directly affecting a broad range of people. The need for accountability has thus become more critical.
The IMF and the World Bank were established after World War II as mutual assistance organizations through which all member countries could help each other with postwar reconstruction and development as well as with balance-of-payments problems. The voting and governance structures of both organizations reflect that early vision. Today, however, both lend only to developing and transition countries, and both condition their lending heavily on broad changes in borrowers' economic policies. Indeed, "conditionality" has widened dramatically over the past couple of decades, increasing the intrusiveness of the institutions' work and...
NOTE: All illustrations and photos
have been removed from this article.
More articles from Brookings Review
Opening doors to research: a new global patent regime for pharmaceutic..., March 22, 2003
Global public policy networks: lessons learned and challenges ahead., March 22, 2003
Asymmetric globalization: global markets require good global politics., March 22, 2003
A global crossing for Enronitis? How opaque self-dealing damages finan..., March 22, 2003
Odious debt: when dictators borrow, who repays the loan?, March 22, 2003
Looking for additional articles?
Search our database of over 3 million articles.
Looking for more in-depth information on this industry?
Search our complete database of Industry & Market reports by text, subject, publication
name or publication date.
About Goliath
Whether you're looking for sales prospects, competitive information, company
analysis or best practices in managing your organization,
Goliath can help you meet your business needs.
Our extensive business information databases empower business
professionals with both the breadth and depth of credible,
authoritative information they need to support their business
goals. Whether it be strategic planning, sales prospecting,
company research or defining management best practices -
Goliath is your leading source for accurate information.
|
(world%20bank)%20%20&position=1)