How did the World Bank emerge, who came up with the idea, and what time?

Question

this is for a history class, so complete answers would be nice. is the world bank a good idea? how much power does it have?

thank u- bee

Answer 1

The 'World Bank' is actually a group of three inter-governmental organisations: the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

The IBRD was the first part of the World Bank group to be created, and is where the term 'World Bank' comes from.

It was founded with two purposes in mind:
1. To facilitate the rebuilding of countries that had been shattered by war.
2. To assist under-developed nations (ie the Third World).

The Bank's formation was based upon the ideas of the Bretton Woods system of international economic institutions. Bretton Woods is a place in the United States, and the system refers to a number of agreements reached at that place in July of 1944 under the auspices of the United Nations. 44 countries adopted the finalised agreements at Bretton Woods, which saw the establishment of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF is often referred to the World Bank's 'sister'.

The foundation for the Bretton Woods agreements was the result of a series of bilateral negotiations between the United States and the United Kingdom Treasuries between 1942 and 1943. These negotiations were necessary as the UK and the US agreed on the need for the World Bank and IMF (see points 1 & 2 above), but had different ideas on how it should be run. The World Bank was much more quickly agreed on than the IMF, however it was decided that countries could not become members of the World Bank unless they were also members of the IMF.

(For more information on disagreements of the establishment of the IMF you should look up the White Plan and the Keynes Plan. In the end the agreement was largely settled around the White Plan. - The IMF is not part of the World Bank Group)

In 1956 the second part of the World Bank group was founded - the International Finance Corporation (IFC) - to encourage growth and economic development in the poorest countries. It's plan for this growth is through the adoption of free trade and the privatisation of industry.

In 1960 the third part of the World Bank was established, since the IBRD was found to be too strictly commercial on its loaning principles. The International Development Association (IDA) was intended to provide loans, instead of grants, to poor countries. Unlike the IBRD the IDA can only loan money that has been put into the fund by countries that are members of that fund.


Since there are three separate organisations in the World Bank group it is a bit hard to give a concise answer. But I hope this suffices. Generally when people refer to the foundation of the World Bank they do mean the 1944 Bretton Woods agreements. But since there are two other organisations within the group today, you may want to do some more research on IFC and IDA.


Edit in response to extra questions added:

The power given the World Bank and the debate over whether or not its a good idea is a LONG thing to write about. You're better off formulating your own idea about that one. One of the main arguments worth looking into is that the World Bank forces Third World nations into a cycle refered to as 'Dependency Theory', which has its own school of thought in International Relations.

The basic premise is that the third world becomes dependent upon investment and companies of the first world as a result of the IFC. Even after the loan is paid off the third world faces economic stagnation in the long run because so much of its newly developed economy is dependent upon outside investment by richer nations. If those rich nations were to pull out overnight it would lead to economic collapse.

Essentially it is outside the school of 'history'.

Answer 2

The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations responsible for providing finance and advice to countries for the purposes of economic development and eliminating poverty. The Bank came into formal existence on 27 December 1945 following international ratification of the Bretton Woods agreements, which emerged from the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference (1 July – 22 July 1944). Commencing operations on 25 June 1946, it approved its first loan on 9 May 1947 ($250m to France for postwar reconstruction, in real terms the largest loan issued by the Bank to date).

Answer 3

The overall idea of world financing is good because it eliminates private interests but in the world bank's case it is not exactly the "world's bank" but more like the U.S Bank because the President of the World Bank is nominated by the President of the United States and elected by the Bank's Board of Governors. the United States holdsld 16.4% of total votes on the Board, Japan 7.9%, Germany 4.5%, and France and the United Kingdom each held 4.3%. As major decisions require an 85% super-majority, the US can block any such major change and therefore controls the Banks operation. If each nation in its clientèle had an equal vote it would truely be a world bank.

Answer 4

This easy to read brochure from the World Bank website will answer your questions. See pages 1-4. It should only take about 30 min. for you to read it those pages and write your answers. The only other thing to know is that the original purpose of the bank was to fund the reconstruction of Europe after WWII.

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTABOUTUS/Resources/wbgroupbrochure-en.pdf

Answer 5

The UN, World Bank and IMF were all founded in 1944 at the Bretton Woods conference. Most of the NGO's trace to this.


http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=11438&Cr=bretton&Cr1=woods