IMF, Worldbank and Democracy

Seminar paper from the year 2001 in the subject Politics - Topic: International Organisations, grade: 1,0 (A), University of Bonn (Institute for Politcal Science, Bonn), course: Seminar: Comparing Political Systems in Latin America, language: English, abstract: IntroductionSince 1982, when the debt crisis broke out in Latin America the continuous presence of IMF and World Bank has become part of the every day life of Latin American countries. While the programs have changed both in nature and in size, the criticism on the structural adjustment programs (SAPs) has been a constant factor throughout the last years(1). The debate on SAPs focused basically(with minor variations) on two key questions: Their effect on the economy and their social costs, the latter including income distribution(2). The tendency of scientific studies reached from vigorous defence of IMF/WB policy to complete rejection. [...]_____1 Cf. e.g. Rainer Tetzlaff, Weltbank und Wahrungsfond Gestalter der Bretton-Woods Ara, Opladen 1996, pp. 26-30. 2 Since the beginning of the end of the 80s, environmental costs could be added to this list. Due to the limited extent of this paper they cannot be included.