Dinosaurs or Dynamos

The United Nations and the World Bank at the Turn of the Century

Helge Ole Bergesen, Leiv Lunde

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781134193851
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Development Economics
• Index: Economics

Explores how much and what the World Bank and the United Nations can really be expected to achieve. The text begins with a detailed account of the evolution of the two organizations as multilateral development institutions and then focuses on the functions that the World Bank and the UN carry out, and the governing structures that underlie their activities. The authors then go on to question what need there is for these two multilateral institutions in the next century and which tasks they can undertake in promoting world development.

Both the United Nations (UN) and the World Bank have repeatedly proclaimed their solemn ambitions to improve the lot of humankind. Dinosaurs or Dynamos? explores how much, and what, they can really be expected to do. Both have extended their functions far beyond their original mandates, while their decision-making structures have remained basically unaltered despite recent adaptations on the part of the World Bank.

Such expansions have created serious strains on both organizations. The UN has ambitions to perform tasks, such as the search for 'good governance' and 'sustainable development', for which it is ill equipped. The World Bank has taken on normative functions - 'the premier development institution' - that are incompatible with its traditional structures.

The authors ask, what need is there for these two multilateral development institutions in the next century? Which tasks in promoting world development can they undertake that others cannot? To whom are these institutions politically accountable, who sets their agendas and are they credible given financial constraints? Dinosaurs or Dynamos? is an essential guide for those working within the international community, non-governmental organizations, governments and students of development, economics, politics and international relations.

Index

Page references in bold refer to figures, tables and boxes

Agenda 21 62, 63–4, 150

agenda setting

by IGOs 4–5, 15, 17, 18, 19

by NGOs 4

by UN 63, 65, 69, 149, 150, 189

by World Bank 129, 158, 159, 161

agenda sprawling 18, 56–7, 63, 81–4

aid

bilateral 42, 43–4, 70, 176, 178,

186, 191

development 35, 37, 43–4, 131,

138, 155, 176, 177

multilateral 42, 43–4, 47–9, 70–9,

137, 174–82, 196–8

transfers 34, 37, 40, 42, 122, 123

see also emergency relief

Annan, Kofi xiii, 92–4, 150, 151, 154,

190–1, 194

Asher, Robert 28, 30–1, 98, 101

Berg Report 134

Bertrand Report (1985) 30, 45, 51,

57–8, 84, 86–7, 88, 90

bilateral aid 42, 43–4, 70, 176, 178,

186, 191

biodiversity loss 167, 171, 183

Bitterman, Henry J 102

Black, Eugene 106, 108

Brundtland Commission 61–2, 63, 64

CEC 176, 177, 178, 186, 199...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Figure, Table And Boxes
• Abbreviations
• Acknowledgement
• Introduction
• Framework of Analysis
• The UN from Past to Present
• The World Bank from Past to Present
• The UN and the World Bank: Comparing their Current Predicament
• Global Goods ans Bads
• Donor Support - Implications for the Future of the UN and the World Bank
• Appendix
• Notes
• References
• Index