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Losing the Global Development War: A Contemporary Critique of the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO
Depicting the great debates currently raging over the IMF, World Bank, and WTO as battles in a Global Development War, this book proposes specific reforms in those institutions to reflect an ideology of liberal, intelligent, participatory, multilateral, and sustainable human development.
368 pages, Paperback
First published March 15, 2008
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May 29, 2011
Did you read the articles about Strauss-Kahn's resignation from the IMF and subsequent discussions whether it was legitimate for Europe to monopolize the selection of his successor? As it turns out, that is just one way in which the institutions of global economic governance systematically exclude small and developing nations from global policy decisions and instead distribute the power to affect the world economy only amongst the strongest and most powerful of nations.
In his book "Losing the Global Development War: A Contemporary Critique of the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO", John W. Head professionally dissects the major criticisms of the institutions of global economic governance. Identifying eight key criticisms for each institution, he goes on to cluster them into eight clusters of criticisms shared by the institutions: (a) Bad Policies, Projects and Performance, (b) Distributional and Social Injustice, (c) Environmental Degradation, (d) Encroachments on Sovereignity, (e) Secrecy and Opaqueness, (f) Democracy Deficit, (g) Mission Creep and (h) Asymmetry in Obligations. This analysis, which can be found in chapter two of the book, together with a discussion of the function and methods of the institutions (next chapter) is of much help for the amateur trying to understand the hugely complex nature of them.
In a nutshell one can say that this book should be compulsory reading for anyone interested in the current methods of international regulation and economic governance and how to improve them. What this book does not offer, however - and this is why I subtract one star from an otherwise five star rating - is a detailed analysis of each claim based on empirical data: too often, the author just takes one claim by critics, states that he thinks it is wrong (but not why), and then dismisses it. But although the book does not serve as a good in depth exploration of the discussed issues, it servers as a brilliant introduction to the topic!
In his book "Losing the Global Development War: A Contemporary Critique of the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO", John W. Head professionally dissects the major criticisms of the institutions of global economic governance. Identifying eight key criticisms for each institution, he goes on to cluster them into eight clusters of criticisms shared by the institutions: (a) Bad Policies, Projects and Performance, (b) Distributional and Social Injustice, (c) Environmental Degradation, (d) Encroachments on Sovereignity, (e) Secrecy and Opaqueness, (f) Democracy Deficit, (g) Mission Creep and (h) Asymmetry in Obligations. This analysis, which can be found in chapter two of the book, together with a discussion of the function and methods of the institutions (next chapter) is of much help for the amateur trying to understand the hugely complex nature of them.
In a nutshell one can say that this book should be compulsory reading for anyone interested in the current methods of international regulation and economic governance and how to improve them. What this book does not offer, however - and this is why I subtract one star from an otherwise five star rating - is a detailed analysis of each claim based on empirical data: too often, the author just takes one claim by critics, states that he thinks it is wrong (but not why), and then dismisses it. But although the book does not serve as a good in depth exploration of the discussed issues, it servers as a brilliant introduction to the topic!
Displaying 1 of 1 review