"Embezzlement and theft of World Bank funds may be the rule rather than the exception... 30% to 40% of World Bank lending is stolen (not lost to inefficiency but actually stolen)...
Workshops, conferences and projects aimed at “reducing vulnerabilities” or “reforming governance” are so much more palatable to the organization’s managers than digging up evidence of wrongdoing and pressuring governments to prosecute and recover funds. ....all our workshops and technical assistance may simply provide diversions that allow criminals to get away with their loot."
This is from this CGD post about this book.
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4 comments:
hm. don't you think that corruption is more of a fact of life and in that sense developing countries are not that much different from developed world? only that you guys call it client meetings, compaign contribution and lobby groups. so it gets a bit tiring when people accuse World Bank of this corruption things. you either chose to work on big projects (dambs, wells, roads, schools) and have to deal with whatever form of government that country happens to have or you dump the government and work on micro finance projects directly with the people, but even then you need some sort of state permission. so perhaps you should evaluate World Bank on what it gets done, not who it has to pay to get there.
In that case you should prefer the Chinese a million times over the WB...they get stuff done like roads, buildings and stuff, while the WB doesnt...and no, corruption is not like a fact of life...i never had to pay a bribe and never felt any pressur to pay one, except at some checkpoints in highly corrupt countries...and also, if we evaluate the WB on what it gets done, what shd we evaluate, anti-corruption workshops? was else has it gotten done???? "It gets tiring when people accuse the WB of this corruption thing"??? of course we should get pissed! we who care about developement want things to become efficient...of course if youre happy to live in a country where the government is unaccountable that's good for u but its not the case for most of us.
just because you havent experience corruption on a personal level in your country, it doesn't mean it's not there, and probably in some scarier forms...
all i say is that to a certain extent economic development and improving a political process are two separate things. that in certain situations by the virtue of having to deal with an existing goverment to get things done, it means you cannot at the same time change that very government. and that if you want to fight corruption, you might think of a better tool, like transparency international or whatnot, which is better suited for the purposes.
to me, if you want to do something good in a country as a foreign institution, you close your eyes on the current political climate and get it done cooperating with whatever isntitutions there are. even if you waste 30% in the process, some of it will end up improving the lives of ordinary people and empower them in the long run, so that they themselves can change the government, which to me anyway is much more palatable then the other way around. not doing anything or attaching some conditionality on this corruption business just seems a bit... erhm, stupid. you may argue that world bank as an institution is not the right way to do development, but thats a different issue.
what we seem to agree on is that the WB is wasting its time with its anticorruptino meetings...
that world bank as an institution is not the right way to do development is the exact issue I am discussing here...i dont know what issue u thought i was discussing...
as for closing ur eyes and giving to dictators, well, it may make things worse, instore a cuilture of kleptocracy and corruption as foreign aid did in Africa...
I just like the idea that the Chinese are able to build roads and internet cables where the West didnt achieve anything...but getting stuff done and giving money blindly to despots are 2 different things...
What we seem to disagree on is the existence of huge international differences in corruption levels...law enforcment capacity makes a huge difference...why do you think interntional criminal activites have their hubs in Guinea Bissau and Mexico and not Sweden?
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