Corruption, Politics and Development: The Role of the World Bank (International Political Economy Series)

In 1997, the World Bank announced a strategy to help its borrowers combat corruption, despite earlier claims that work of this kin violated the Bank's non-political mandate. Despite many attempts to reshape corruption as an economic issue rather than a political one, the non-political mandate has never been satisfactorily addressed. Heather Marquette argues that the Bank should focus in its strengths and avoid the more controversial components of its anti-corruption program, which threaten its credibility. "In 1997 the World Bank announced a strategy to combat corruption, despite earlier claims that its non-political mandate forbade this work. Despite many attempts to reshape corruption into a purely economic issue, the World Bank has never satisfactorily addressed this mandate. Instead, it has become increasingly politicised as it moves from traditional public sector reform work to community empowerment and civil society. The Bank has sought to mainstream this work into all of its projects, resulting in a programme that is overly complex and threatens the Bank's overall capacity. However, there is much good work being done - in procurement, internal ethics, public sector reform and bringing international attention to corruption. This book argues that the Bank should focus on its strengths and avoid the more controversial and ineffective components of its anti-corruption programme, which threaten the credibility of the institution as a whole."--Jacket In 1997, the World Bank announced a strategy to combat corruption, despite earlier claims that its non-political mandate forbade this work. Despite many attempts to reshape corruption into a purely economic issue, it has never satisfactorily addressed this mandate. Instead, the Bank has become increasingly politicised as it moves from traditional public sector reform work to community empowerment and civil society. The Bank has sought to mainstream this work into all of its projects, resulting in a programme that is overly complex and threatens the Bank's overall capacity. However, there is much good work being done - in procurement, internal ethics, public sector reform and bringing international attention to corruption. This book argues that the Bank should focus on its strengths and avoid the more controversial and ineffective components of its anti-corruption programme, which threaten the credibility of the institution as a whole In 1997, the World Bank announced a strategy to help its borrowers combat corruption, despite earlier claims that work of this kin violated the Bank's non-political mandate. Despite many attempts to reshape corruption as an economic issue rather than a political one, the non-political mandate has never been satisfactorily addressed. Heather Marquette argues that the Bank should focus in its strengths and avoid the more controversial components of its anti-corruption programme, which threaten its credibility. In 1997, the World Bank announced its intention to provide a 'systematic framework for addressing corruption as a development issue in the assistance it provides to countries and in its operation work more generally'.