The World Bank as an 'Intellectual Actor'

Admirers and critics of the World Bank commonly agree on a surprising view of the institution: the principal function of each loan is to serve as an ideological Trojan horse. It is the critic who will term this ideological and having pejorative intent. The admirer will make the same point using different language, speaking of the Bank as not mere bank but a 'development agency', citing the technical assistance, training, and advice that it provides, as well as its contributions to development research. Both critics and admirers see loans as lever and packaging for the transmission of those ideas.

The chapter provides an examination of the Bank as a source and a transmitter of thinking on economic development. The main author (Stern) looks for originality and scientific power in the Bank's work as a creative center of development studies. He also examines the way in which ideas about development have been part of the Bank's practical, operational life - including a large part of 'operations' that consists of doctrinal persuasion. Stern is unable to cite any significant, pioneering scientific contribution. Loosening the criteria, however, he speaks of the Bank's 'intellectual leadership' with respect to structural adjustment during the 1980's. But Stern admits, the Bank's analytical role was not pathbreaking, the underlying theories and views were not new.

[From Introduction to Volume 2)