Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Reactions to the World Bank and IMF
'Conditionalities' and Structural Adjustment
Programmes
Aided by the disastrous crisis brought on by the 1979-83 recession,
and the ensuing unstoppable growth of indebtedness that many devel-
oping countries experienced, the central 'claim' touted as the World
Bank and IMF's rationale for structural adjustment programmes
(SAPs) revolved around debt reduction. More specifically, the imposi-
tion of 'conditionalities' by these IFIs fundamentally changed many
aspects of society among the indebted nations of the global South, hit-
ting their poor majorities the hardest. The comprehensive package of
SAPs included monetary discipline, trade liberalization, reduction
and/or the removal of public subsidies, price reforms, currency devalu-
ation, privatization of public enterprises, reductions in public spend-
ing, wage restraints and the institutional reform of public services and
public-private partnerships.
50 Years is Enough! Criticisms 'From Below'
of the World Bank and IMF
96
Concerning the destructive consequences of SAPs, a UNICEF publica-
tion,
Adjustment with a Human Face
(1987) was mildly critical and
argued for more consideration of the poor's suffering. A year later
Susan George (1988) more forcefully and perceptively likened the
World Bank and IMF's SAPs to 'international low-intensity conflict' as
a war being waged between the world's rich and poor, in which these
two IFIs were the major 'enforcers'.
Not surprisingly then, around the fiftieth anniversary of the World
Bank's existence, anti-globalization fervour increased and
anti-establishment commentary called for resistance and action to pre-
vent a continuation of such punitive structural adjustment regimes.
Acclaiming
50 Years is Enough
, Kevin Danaher (1994) edited a collec-
tion that forcibly and convincingly demonstrated the disastrous impacts
of these neoliberal 'reforms'. Muhammed Yunus, the Bangladeshi who
created the Grameen Bank for Micro-credit, provided the Preface to
this collection, and many luminaries contributed critiques of SAPs and
how the World Bank and IMF operated. Additionally, it provided
empirical evidence of countries 'drowning in debt', gave attention to
unheard voices - particularly environmentalists, women and tribal
