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The World Bank approach to governance is not based on the promotion of more inclusive and democratic societies. The Bank acts both as judge and jury when it is in fact just another actor in the international financial architecture and is also likely to be involved in acts of corruption. In terms of corruption, the World Bank approach reduces the causes of corruption to actions carried out by Southern States, thus assuming that they distort the market and do not contribute to overcome poverty.

The governance process launched by the World Bank shows an utter interventionist bias, given the fact that financing (credits) is granted through programmes aimed at judicial reforms and anti-corruption activities and even at decentralization, public finance management (debt management) and tax policies including public administration reforms. And all of the above, within the perspective of promoting a favorable investment climate.

Undoubtedly, this new World Bank recipe – after the lessons learnt – will increase the levels of indebtedness of Southern countries, with the corresponding rise in debt service and budget adjustment. Thus, the Bank will allocate large financial resources that would exceed the amount of US$20 billion – to be paid by Southern countries – to obtain consultancy services on governance.

The World Bank approach to governance is not based on the promotion of more inclusive and democratic societies and indeed constrains the issue of accountability, political stability, non-violence, government effectiveness, regulatory quality (where hostile policies against investments are prevented), rule of law and control of corruption. The bias of the Bank is such that it has even created a Sanctions Committee for corruption cases when the appropriate thing to do is to let the role be undertaken by the competent jurisdictional channels either at state or international level (International Criminal Court, International Justice Court, etc.). However, the Bank acts both as judge and jury when it is in fact just another actor in the international financial architecture and is also likely to be involved in acts of corruption.

In terms of corruption, the World Bank approach reduces the causes of corruption to actions carried out by Southern States, thus assuming that they distort the market and do not contribute to overcome poverty. With regards to this issue, Bank-financed programmes (anti-corruption counseling) include media work and promotion of social responsibility. That is to say, the Bank will once again finance ideological components.

In our opinion, corruption is both cause and effect of different processes. It is the cause of exclusion that generates poverty and at the same time the effect of a weak democratic institutionalization at global level. On account of this, a coherent anti-corruption strategy should be based on two focal points: equity and democratization.

In this sense, anti-corruption initiatives should be aimed at the promotion of an international agreement against impunity, including aspects such as the non-applicability of the statute of limitations for corruption crimes, auditing of financial processes and democratization of global institutions in order to launch a process of affirmation of global ethics.

On the other hand, we believe that the Bank is not the most suitable actor to lead anti-corruption actions, least of all in the field of governance.

This role should be undertaken by institutions such as the United Nations Human Rights Council, given the fact that governance in Southern countries is much more dependent on inclusive covenants between labor and capital, thus ensuring the real enjoyment of economic, social, civil, political and cultural rights.

This article was first published at Jubileo Perú newsletter ("Sin cadenas")

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