Masters of Illusion: The World Bank and the Poverty of Nations [Hardcover]

Catherine Caufield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1997

Cites the failure of technicians and bureaucrats to design a practical World Bank, which the author states serves to widen the gap between the rich and underdeveloped nations. 15,000 first printing. $12,000 ad/promo.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Though the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, or World Bank, professes that its chief objective is fighting global poverty, most of its projects help the rich get richer while shortchanging the poor, charges Caufield. World Bank-funded proposals, she observes, have displaced millions of people, pushing them into destitution; for example, the Narmada Valley dams in India, which submerged several hundred villages. Instead of focusing on human services in developing nations, the bank promotes high-tech energy and transportation projects and Western-style, capital-intensive agriculture-development schemes that often enrich heads of state, contractors, exporters, middlemen, landholding elites and multinational corporations. Moreover, she adds, the bank pressures borrowers to amend or repeal countless local laws to qualify for loans, thereby weakening labor protections, trade unions, communal land holdings and maternity benefits. Ordinary taxpayers in donor nations ultimately finance this reallocation of funds to the relatively well-off in underdeveloped nations, she asserts. Caufield, a former environment correspondent for Britain's New Scientist, has written a scathing, well-researched critique that is likely to generate controversy in financial circles and among policy-makers.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Another bureaucracy in Washington, D.C., rivals the federal government in power, especially on the world stage. It belongs to the World Bank, born at the end of World War II with the noble intent of rebuilding war-torn Europe and aiding Third World development. Journalist Caufield (In the Rainforest, 1984) believes that the bank has strayed from this course, often with disastrous results. Having done exhaustive research, she skillfully dissects the workings of the organization and finds plenty of blame to go around. She brings the story up to the present with the recent appointment of James D. Wolfensohn as the new bank president. Caufield sheds light on a secretive, often mysterious organization that has affected millions of people?often misguidedly. Her compelling and sobering account is highly recommended.?Richard S. Drezen, Washington Post News Research Ctr., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Co; 1st edition (January 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805028757
• ISBN-13: 978-0805028751
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,025,267 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A solid critical analysis at an important time in history., October 5, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Masters of Illusion: The World Bank and the Poverty of Nations (Hardcover)

Catherine Caufield's analysis of the activities of the World Bank is like a breath of fresh air in the development industry. At a time when even simple debate on the philosophical underpinnings of economic development theory have been snowed under by the blizzard of propaganda\rhetoric that the Bank's type of free market oriented structural adjustment programs and development schemes are the "only" way forward for the third world, the facts and historical record suggests the contrary. Not only does Caufield provide insight into how the bank operates internally, the negative impact of its work on the people and nations that are supposedly being helped, but she uses langauage that even non-economists can understand. Although I differ with the conclusions she draws from her research, as an economist working in Africa I can definitely support her facts and observations about the contradictory nature of the World Bank's publically stated goals\objectives and its actual track record of results. Where I differ with Caufield is that in my view, the World Bank, its role and functions were never intended to help the world's poor to develop, due the vary nature of the bank itself, and its role in the global capitalist system. Caufield's documentation of the continued impoverishment of the developing world over the past 50 years via World Bank sponsored activities demonstrates the fundamental results of the structural position of developing nations in the global market and the relationships between wealthy elites in the North and their subservient counterparts in the South. The problems of poverty in the South resulting from such structural relationships can and will never be addressed by altering or reforming institutions like the Bank. It requires structural changes in the system as a whole, its institutions, and the nature of relationships between the nations who make up the global economy. I strongly encourage those with an interest in obtaining an objective alternative introduction to the World Bank and the "development industry" as a whole to read this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You'll feel less eager to avoid your duties as a citizen., July 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Masters of Illusion: The World Bank and the Poverty of Nations (Hardcover)

This book is indeed the result of a very thorough research, while written in a language anybody can understand. The way facts are presented makes this book very interesting to read. Most people from developing countries have a wrong idea, if any, of what the international finance institutions are, the role they play in world economy, and how much they influence our daily lives through structural adjustment programs. With her book, Ms. Caufield unveils the many mysteries of the World Bank. I consider it a valuable tool in our organization's fight for more environmentally and socially adequate World Bank-financed projects. I really recommend you all to read this book very carefully, with the same interest of one who follows a criminal trial closely. You will feel annoyed or even sad by the weight of evidence, and amazed by how disastrously planned and implemented a project can be. After reading this book, you'll feel less eager to avoid your duties as a citizen. In summary, it's definitely worth it!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eye opening!, September 17, 1998

By A Customer

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This review is from: Masters of Illusion: The World Bank and the Poverty of Nations (Hardcover)

There is so much in this book that everyone should read. It is by far one of the most eye opening books around. It helps to explain our economic situation of today and how we got to where we are. It is easy to see why the rich keep getting richer and the poor continue to pay the price. Clearly some of the facts are presented in a way that will direct us towards the conclusions that the author would like us to draw. Keeping that in mind this is a very well written book that should be read by everyone that is concerned about the future of economics.