Topic 3: Agencies of Dev (IGOs) Flashcards
What are International Government Organisations?
They are supranational organisations who make decisions that are implemented around the world.
Eg, the UN and the World Bank.
What is the UN?
The UN is the main IGO (formed in 1947) and has multiple agencies involved in development:
UN agencies: what is the Food and Agricultural Organisation?
FAO:
It improves food production and security.
UN agencies: what is the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees?
UNHCR:
Provides protection and assistance for refugees.
UN agencies: United Nations Development Programme
UNDP:
Provides grants for sustainable development.
It produces the Human Development Report.
UN agencies: World Food Programme
WFP:
Provides food aid in disaster and emergency situations.
As they accept donations, culturally inappropriate foods are sometimes distributed.
UN agencies: what is the final agency?
The World Health Organisation.
Where is the UN’s main power concentrated?
Mainly in the Security Council: it has 5 permanent members that have a veto.
These include the largest donors and are mainly western.
What is the IMF’s role?
They are the financial police for countries in debt.
They provide loans for nations if they agree to accept IMF economic programmes.
What are criticisms of the IMF? (5)
- “One size fits all” conditions.
- Only concerned with short term economic problems - not fussed with long term solutions.
- They are unconcerned with the human effects of SAPs - led to hunger and riots (Stiglitz, 2002).
- Stick to neoliberal policies despite no evidence of the effectiveness.
- It has failed to foresee economic crises.
Has the World Bank had a clear role or an ambiguous one?
It has always had a clearer development role than the IMF.
What is the role of the World Bank?
It raises money at lower rates of interest and passes this rate on to its members. This means developing countries can then borrow at much lower rates.
It also provides the International Development Association (IDA) which loans to the poorest countries at zero interest.
Recently: Focussed on poverty eradication - MDGs strengthened this position.
Why has the World Bank been criticised? (2)
- It works closely with the IMF so is associated with SAPs.
2. Previously, it has been restricted to lending for specific projects which were often inappropriate - eg, dams.
What is the mission of the World Trade Organisation?
It was set up at the behest of the US.
It pushes for neoliberal reforms in trade.
Why is decision-making within the WTO difficult?
Because no votes are taken - decisions are reached via consensus but this means they usually end without an agreement.
