The World Bank

The World Bank has transformed itself from an afterthought at Bretton Woods to one of the most powerful institutional mechanisms of contemporary global governance. In this analysis, I examine the discursive shifts that have underpinned the changing shape of Bank policies and practices, examining how these are informed and sustained by a discourse of neoliberalism that is contingent, contested and unstable, but which nevertheless represents a powerful articulation of modern-day development best practice. I focus here particularly on the ways in which the Bank’s neoliberalism has shifted, particularly since the 1990s, to an economic rationality of ‘good governance’, ‘post-conditionality’ and ‘alternative development’.