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Note: This document is from the archive of the Africa Policy E-Journal, published
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Africa: Washington Dissensus
Africa: Washington Dissensus
Date distributed (ymd): 000721
Document reposted by APIC
+++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Region: Continent-Wide
Issue Areas: +economy/development+
Summary Contents:
The language of international institutions on global economic
issues is changing, in response to multiple pressures, including
demonstrations at Seattle last year, the rising chorus calling not
only for debt relief but debt cancellation, and new attention
following the Durban conference to the devastation of the AIDS
pandemic. Prior to the G7/G8 Summit this week, representatives of
the global South, including the Presidents of Algeria, Nigeria, and
South Africa, received "encouraging words" in a meeting with the G8
leaders. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, chair of the G77
group of developing countries, noted: "They are starting to say the
right things. ... It is a question of how to translate these
encouraging words into concrete action."
Meanwhile, the debate over words within different sectors of
the "international community" continues to reflect a variety of
emphases, often contradictory. The posting below, one of a series
APIC will be distributing referring to reports from different
agencies, concerns the World Bank's annual World Development
Report, which focuses on "Poverty and Development" this year, and
will be released in September.
A posting also sent out today contains excerpts from today's
statements by the G7 Heads of State and Finance Ministers meeting
in Japan ['G8' also includes Russia; but these statements are
issued by the 'G7', not including Russia.]
+++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
14 June 2000
Bretton Woods Project
Web: http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org
E-mail: awood@gn.apc.org
PO Box 100, London SE1 7RT, UK
Contact: Alex Wilks: 44 207 523 2170 (daytime),
or 44 207 284 1886 (evening)
Statement on Ravi Kanbur's resignation as World Development Report
lead author
A serious blow for the World Bank and for sensible discussion of
globalisation
Ravi Kanbur, lead author of the World Bank's forthcoming World
Development Report (WDR) on Poverty, has tendered his resignation.
He has sent a letter to senior Bank management expressing his
concerns about what he saw as unreasonable pressure to tone down
WDR sections on globalisation. Reliable Washington sources indicate
that US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers has got directly involved
in re-writing the globalisation sections of this report, which is
likely to be extremely prominent in future discussions of
international issues and in guiding aid interventions. [APIC note:
Before joining the U.S. Treasury as Deputy Secretary (1995-1999)
and Secretary (1999- ), Lawrence H. Summers served as chief
economist of the World Bank from 1991 to 1993, where he became
infamous for a memorandum arguing that "under-populated countries
in Africa are vastly under-polluted", since "a given amount of
health impairing pollution should be done in the country with the
lower cost, which will be the country with the lowest wages."
Summers reportedly said the memorandum was written as a ironic
thought experiment. For full text see
http://www.jacksonprogressive.com/issues/summersmemo.html]
Ravi Kanbur, T. H. Lee Professor of World Affairs, Cornell
University, was appointed by the Bank in Spring 1998 to lead the
team writing this report. His writings and the genuine efforts he
made to commission research from and consult a range of groups
across the world have won him much respect. Many people had hoped
the World Bank's report for this year might break new ground
compared to its predecessors and open up debates on issues such as
free trade and political disempowerment. Kanbur was at pains to
stress that policy-makers must examine the detailed, disaggregated
impacts on different population groups, rather than relying on
general formulae. The organisations which have fed into this report
are very concerned to know what will happen to it now that Kanbur
has been forced out.
Alex Wilks, Coordinator of the Bretton Woods Project, commented:
"The resignation of the lead author of this flagship Bank report
confirms our view that the World Bank is unable to accept
dissenting views, whether from insiders or outsiders. Coming soon
after Joe Stiglitz departed as Chief Economist this is a major blow
for an institution trying to position itself as a 'knowledge Bank'
and a 'listening Bank'"
"It raises questions of who really calls the shots at the Bank and
what evidence or opinions about the impacts of globalisation they
are trying to suppress".
At Ravi Kanbur's request, the Bretton Woods Project and New Policy
Institue ran an electronic conference to discuss the WDR first
draft which (a first for the Bank) was disseminated in January this
year. The conference attracted 1,523 people from over 80 countries.
Many respondents felt that the draft WDR 2000/01 reflected real
progress compared to its predecessors, with a increased examination
of non-income dimensions of poverty and recognition of insecurity,
voicelessness and powerlessness. It moved beyond national average
figures on poverty incidence to examine the many factors which
influence poverty outcomes for vulnerable population groups. A
number of contributors, however, urged the WDR to be bolder in its
conclusions, particularly on the political obstacles to
implementing pro-poor policies, and the need for a rights-based
approach to press Northern countries to do more on trade and
environmental degradation. In his 19 May response to the
conference, Kanbur said that his team was looking to strengthen
their lines on some of these issues, in particular to: "revise the
concluding recommendations to bring global actions to center
stage".
Background Notes
Kanbur statement on process integrity
In a letter to the Bretton Woods Project of 17 July 1998 Kanbur
stated:
"since you asked for my views, I wanted to let you know my own
personal philosophy and perspective as we go into the processes
leading up to the Poverty WDR. First and foremost, I want to stress
that I would stand behind any Report that I put my name to, and
would not submit to any substantive editing I did not agree with".
UK government funding, research input
Many UK organisations were involved in submitting research or
engaging in consultations on the WDR. The UK government gave the
Bank an additional grant of £750,000, aiming to help the report
team "give a voice to poor people in the preparation of the World
Bank's millenium World Development Report" [DFID News Release, 4
December, 1998]. A number of UK organisations, including Oxfam,
IDS, ODI, Christian Aid and CREDIT contributed research to the
report. The WDR's findings are likely to be influential on the
drafting of the UK government's white paper on globalisation, due
this November.
About the WDR
The Bank produces World Development Reports every year. The ones at
the start of each decade, however, are the most influential as they
take an overall look at the 1990 report was very influential in the
Bank and for many aid agencies and researchers across the world.
This WDR is due to be signed off by the Bank Board this month, then
printed in time to be launched in mid-September, just before the
World Bank/IMF annual meetings in Prague.
WDR's are officially not documents of the Executive Board of the
World Bank, and is thus not an official policy document, it is a
document prepared by the Chief Economist's staff, and therefore
ultimately represents the views of staff and management. At the
same time, the process of preparation of WDRs to become more
consultative, to include views of outsiders. "There is no doubt
that wide ranging consultation does indeed influence the team's
thinking and perspective as alternative views are encountered and
debated." Newsletter Update on WDR 2000/01, No. 1, January 1999
www.worldbank.org/poverty/wdrpoverty/newsl/newsl
Bank President James Wolfensohn, stated in a letter to the Bretton
Woods Project of 26 August, 1998 that "I view WDRs as being one of
the Bank's critical instruments for dialogue with the development
community at large. I have also emphasized that we should not just
be reciting generic answers but raising fundamental questions to
which there are no easy answers".
About Ravi Kanbur
Ravi Kanbur, the T.H. Lee Professor of World Affairs at Cornell
University is on leave of absence from his post for the academic
year 1999-2000 to lead this report. A UK citizen, Kanbur was on the
staff of the World Bank from 1989 to 1997, serving successively as
Adviser, Senior Adviser, Resident Representative in Ghana, Chief
Economist for Africa, and Principal Adviser to the Chief Economist.
About the Bretton Woods Project
The Bretton Woods Project works with UK-based NGOs to monitor the
World Bank and IMF. Groups in the network which established the
Project include Christian Aid, WWF, New Economics Foundation and
World Development Movement. See: http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org
Resources available:
For more information on the e-conference, including a full archive
of contributions, see:
http://www.worldbank.org/devforum/forum_poverty.html
For more general background on the WDR, see:
http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/wdrpoverty
The letters and documents mentioned in this statement are all also
available from the Bretton Woods Project by fax or post.
WDR 2000/1 Attacking Poverty
World Bank Statement
Ravi Kanbur's Decision to Leave the WDR team, June 2000
Ravi Kanbur has recently decided to leave his position as Staff
Director of the World Development Report "Attacking Poverty."
Ravi's decision is a source of regret for the Report's team, for
colleagues in the Bank and for many people outside the Bank who
have been working on the WDR.
In leaving Ravi said he had some reservations on the emphasis of
the main messages that were likely to emerge in the final version
of the Report. We believe these reservations to be unfounded. Ravi
was given repeated assurances that the WDR would be an objective,
analytical report, as it always has been. Moreover, the WDR that is
finally produced in September will continue to reflect the main
themes that were in the draft that has been widely discussed around
the world, and will incorporate the results of the extensive
consultations that have taken place with civil society,
policymakers, academics and Bank staff.
The key themes of opportunity, empowerment and security will be at
the heart of the WDR as they have been in earlier drafts. In
developing these themes we will make very clear not only the
importance of growth in poverty reduction but also the importance
of ensuring that poor people can participate in this process -- in
this context education and health are crucial as is support for
organizations of the poor and mechanisms to reduce vulnerability.
The Report will also emphasize both the role of market reform in
delivering growth and the dangers of failure in reform if
supporting institutions are not developed and tailored to
individual country circumstances.
Taken together these ideas make very clear that we have to take a
comprehensive view of the development process, as embodied in the
Comprehensive Development Framework that the Bank has been building
with its partners.
Going forward, Nora Lustig, deputy director of the project, will
take over as full director to manage the final phase. Michael
Walton in his capacity as PREM Poverty Director will continue
working closely with the team throughout the process.
The World Bank is committed to both open debate and an internal
process that maintains the integrity of the WDR, in which the final
product reflects the best evidence and judgement of the staff, as
well as the wide range of external commentary. The report will in
the end be a product of the World Bank approved by its President
and by incoming Chief Economist Nicholas Stern. We see the final
WDR as a contribution to an ongoing debate on what does and does
not work in improving the lives of poor people.
Jo Ritzen, Vice President, Development Economics
http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/wdrpoverty
This material is being reposted for wider distribution by the
Africa Policy Information Center (APIC). APIC provides
accessible information and analysis in order to promote U.S.
and international policies toward Africa that advance economic,
political and social justice and the full spectrum of human rights.
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