A dissertation submitted to the School of International Relations of the University of
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in part-fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master
of Arts, March 2017 / This thesis is situated within the study of International Relations. It centers on a critical
analysis of the World Bank’s ideological framework towards its poverty reduction and
development goals. It seeks to provide an understanding of the ideas, ideals, and values that
form the basis of the Bank’s development thinking. Ideology plays an important role in this
thesis, as the way the World Bank thinks of and pursues development is of great importance;
it speaks to the ideology of development, not just within the Bank, but within the global
structure of development. Literature that is reviewed in this thesis suggests that the Bank
leans towards a neo-liberal ideology. The selected text for the analysis, The World
Development Report: Attacking Poverty (2000-01) will also be analysed in order to review
the principles that have been adopted by the Bank and the development community at large.
In order to understand and explore the factors that influence the Bank’s ideological
framework, this study employs two levels of analysis through a critical theoretical framework
and discourse analysis as a methodological tool. The first level of analysis looks at internal
sources of influence; the Bank’s voting and governance structure. The second level considers
external sources of influence, such as intellectual culture and bureaucratic culture. As stated
above, a critical analysis of the Bank’s key document, the World Development Report:
Attacking Poverty (2000-01), will also be carried out.
This thesis concludes that through internal sources of influences such as the unequal voting
shares; powerful actors such as the United States have shaped the Bank’s thinking towards
development, as the Bank’s view of development leans towards Anglo-American norms and
values as well as interests. Through external sources of influence, the Bank has been
dominated by an economic discourse, which Wade (2006) has termed ‘economic
imperialism’. Through its hiring, promotion and research publications, the Bank has favored
the discourse of economics. Through its financial power within the global arena, the Bank
has the power to influence the development narrative, its ideas and values of development
have been normalized and universalized within the development community. Its financial
strength and research output, both within the Bank and the global arena, are some of its
aspect that aid in the maintenance of the status quo in development, consequently, this has led
to other views that are not in line with the Bank to be ignored and neglected.
The Bank has also presented the neoliberal ideology as the best means to achieve
development and alleviate poverty, this is evidenced through the Bank’s key text, as
neoliberal principles such as privatisation and deregulation are presented as the only way to
achieve development. This thesis also recognises that the Bank does not exists in a vacuum,
it ideology, norms and values are also heavily influenced by events that take place on the
international sphere, such as the economic crises of the 1970s that influenced the Bank’s
position on poverty and development. / XL2018
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/24722 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Ngwendere, Samantha |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | Online resource (101 leaves), application/pdf |
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