Good Governance and the World Bank

The World Bank's 'good governance' agenda is concerned with the relationship between the state, the market, and the civil society in loan-receiving countries. The Bank argues that in order to be effective, the state must play a critical role in managing and regulating the market and civil society. This briefing paper looks in detail at the bank's conception of 'good governance', examines how it has been implemented in practice, and identifies some of the tensions underlying the governance agenda.
The conclusion argues that it is required a more fundamental re-evaluation of the role of the Bank, its philosophy, and self-governance than the 'good governance' agenda has provided so far.