CULTURAL INFLUENCE OF THE US ON THE WORLD BANK.

711 words

CULTURAL INFLUENCE OF THE US ON THE WORLD BANK.

Throughout history, the US has been the largest shareholder and most influential country in the World Bank. US provides the most funds to the Bank, therefore her opinions tend to have more weight and influence on the Banks' operations as compared to those from countries that contribute less or no funds to the Bank. Also the head quarters of the Bank are in the US, meaning it is easy for the Bank to be impacted by the US culture. One of the biggest ideologies that the US campaigns for is capitalism- is an economic system in which there is private ownership of goods and services and they can be produced for profit. Countries that have communism or other ideologies can not be granted loans from the Bank without first abolishing such ideologies and adopting capitalism. Most of the ways the US influences the Bank haven't been so public because it is a delicate issue that can tarnish the name and high standards of the US.

According to Catherine Gwin, a Consultant in the Operations and Evaluation Department at the World Bank, the US has pressured and supported ideologies in the Bank that benefit her policies, programs and practices (Gwin). Due to that, the US has usually failed to come to a consensus with its principal partners (Japan, Germany, Great Britain and France) and it imposes its views directly on the Bank. Through the World Bank, the US has been able to efficiently enforce her foreign policy aims and objectives. Examples of these include: democracy, capitalism (free market). Several member countries have been driven by the desperate need of money, to change from their original orientations and adopt the ones in the US. Although this has helped for some part, it has led to loss of culture in such member countries and increased westernization.

One of the most evident ways the US has greatly shown her influence in the Bank is through the constant proposal of the World Bank president by the US government Since the origin of the Bank and up to the present time. According to the laws governing the World Bank, there's no such a thing as the US government should be the one to propose a president; although the laws don't illustrate it, no governor has ventured up to now - or at any rate, publicly - to propose a candidate other than the one selected by the government. Therefore, the candidate proposed agrees with US's main cultural views and when elected as president, he or she applies them is the business of the Bank

According to Devesh Kapur, a political science professor at the university of Pennsylvania, unlike other member countries of the World Bank, the US has special privileges like the de facto right of veto at the World Bank. To pass a major decision, the majority of the board members have to agree It is the weight of its voice, therefore, more than the exercise of its vote that gives the United States effective power on the board.” (Gwin). Continuous vetoing by the US representative most likely leads into the other members giving in into changing their original opinions to what corresponds to the US's demands.

The World Bank management justifies allocation or non-allocation of loans on purely economic grounds, but research by Committee for abolition of third world debt shows that Since the 1970s, the US has used its influence in the Bank to decline the loans meant for funding the production of goods that will compete with the ones made in the US. Examples of these products include: steel, palm oil, sugar and citrus fruits. “In 1987 the US got the Bank to drastically reduce loans granted to the steel-manufacturing industry in India and Pakistan. In 1985, the US successfully opposed an investment project by the International Financial Corporation in the Brazilian steel industry and later a loan from the Bank to support the restructuring of the steel-manufacturing sector of Mexico” ( CADTM). Therefore, the culture of US remaining the best and the top is maintained through the Bank.

Works cited

Gwin, Catherine.US Relations with the World Bank 1945-1992. Washington, DC: Brookings Inst., 1994. Print

"The Influence of the United States on the World Bank."CADTM -. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2013. <http://cadtm.org/The-influence-of-the-United-States>.

The      FreeDictionary. FARLEX, n.d. Web. 05 Sept. 2013.<http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Capitalism>.

             Kapur, Devesh, John P. Lewis, and Richard Charles Webb. The World Bank: Its First Half Century. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1997. Print.