The framing of IMF and World Bank in political reform debates: The role of political orientation and policy fields in the cases of Russia and Ukraine

Pleines, Heiko

doi:10.1177/1468018120929773

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…As a continuation of this effort, the UN Secretary-General established a COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund in 2020 “to respond to the pandemic and its impacts, including an unprecedented socioeconomic shock” (UN 2020b , p. 2). However, the international community and LDC governments have continuously relied on the private sector, multinational corporations and financial institutions (Pleines 2021 ) for financial support. This trend has increased the role of the market while LDC governments have remained unaccountable for the enduring crises of their public health and education sectors.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unlike WHO and UNESCO, the Bretton Woods Institutions were backed by market forces; they thus held monetary power, and came to fill the leadership vacuum. Instead of supporting national governments in controlling corruption and institutionalising democracy, the Bretton Woods Institutions approached the public health and education sectors of LDCs through the market mechanism (Pleines 2021 ). Governments of LDCs were asked to adopt market-friendly policies under so-called “structural adjustment programmes” (SAPs).…”

Section: The Origins Of Ldcs’ Public Policiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), David Malpass, the current president of the World Bank, confirmed that the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a sister organisation of the World Bank, would fund the private sector to produce vaccines (CBC News 2021 ). Instead of ending the patent rights on COVID-19 vaccines held by multinational pharmaceutical companies, the World Bank aimed to lend money to the private sector to purchase licenses for the production and distribution of vaccines (Pleines 2021 ). While it was not certain whether poor LDC citizens would get vaccines on time, this development is definitely contributing to further privatising their health sector and increase their national debt.…”

Section: Analysis and Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The COVID-19 pandemic, the Sustainable Development Goals on health and education and “least developed countries” such as Nepal

Regmi

2022

Int Rev Educ

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In 2015, the United Nations (UN) declared 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets to be achieved by 2030, but the COVID-19 pandemic has stalled the world’s progress in pursuing them. This article explores how the pandemic has impacted the public health and education sectors of the world’s poorest 46 countries, identified by the UN as “least developed countries” (LDCs). Applying the theoretical lens of international political economy, the author first considers the historical, political and economic causes behind the pre-pandemic underdevelopment of LDCs’ public health and education sectors. Next, he examines how the international support mechanisms forged in 2015 for the timely achievement of the SDGs have been affected by the pandemic, especially in the areas of health (SDG 3) and education (SDG 4). Based on a number of purposively selected international and national policy documents as well as a few related texts, the author uses the case of Nepal as an example to demonstrate what has particularly hampered LDCs’ sustainable development – and indeed continues to do so during the ongoing pandemic. He identifies three main adverse factors: (1) the privatisation of health and education; (2) a lack of governmental accountability; and (3) dysfunctional international support mechanisms. The article appeals for a more egalitarian global collaboration and full accountability of LDC governments in the joint effort to achieve a sustainable recovery from the pandemic.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Origins Of Ldcs’ Public Policiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Analysis and Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The COVID-19 pandemic, the Sustainable Development Goals on health and education and “least developed countries” such as Nepal

Regmi

2022

Int Rev Educ

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“…While deputies from liberal parties had a share of 10 percent in parliament, their share in IMF-related statements stood at only 2 percent. The representatives of the state executive, when appearing in parliament, mostly limited their arguments to the IMF as a source of financial support (Pleines 2021). As a result, many of the original reform plans were not fully implemented.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Opposition to the Washington Consensus: The IMF and Social Policy Reforms in Post-Soviet Russia

Pleines

2022

International Impacts on Social Policy

Self Cite

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Financial collapse forced Russia into an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1998. As part of its conditionality the IMF demanded severe cuts to the country’s social security system, which led to a public backlash against the agreement. However, six years later, after Russia had repaid all its debts to the IMF and started pursuing its economic policy independently, it re-introduced the monetisation of in-kind social benefits—one of the key reforms it had failed to implement as part of the earlier IMF agreement. The analysis of a similar reform attempt with and without IMF involvement shows that domestic policy-makers can genuinely subscribe to neoliberal reforms. It also helps to assess the IMF’s “mixed” approach to domestic opposition against its conditionality.

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“…The All-Russian Societies of the Blind and the Deaf were founded in the 1920s, and the All-Russian Society of the Disabled was created in the 1980s on the initiative and with significant support of the Soviet government. The All-Russian Societies position themselves in opposition to globalization and neoliberal trends, for example the economic and social standards promoted by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (Sharafutdinova and Dawisha 2017;Pleines 2021). Another reason for defining the All-Russian Societies ESSAY S as traditionalist is that these organizations resist competitive principles in social policy and practice.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Domestic NGOs Resisting Global Neoliberalism: The Impact of the All-Russian Societies of the Disabled, the Deaf, and the Blind on Russian Government Policy

2022

Labo

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The reported study was funded by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research .This essay analyses the impact of Russian domestic actors (specifically, traditionalist NGOs) on the government's adoption and regulation of international norms and practices regarding disability. The Russian state supports traditionalist NGOs established in Soviet times-such as the All-Russian Societies of the Disabled, the Blind, and the Deaf-rather than promoting the growth of an independent third sector based on grassroots welfare-oriented initiatives. To defend their interests and secure resources, the All-Russian Societies actively participate in the development of disability policy in Russia and advocate for adoption of practices based on international norms on disability. The essay raises the question of how traditionalist NGOs, exemplified by the All-Russian Societies, position themselves regarding the government's adoption of international norms and practices on disability and how they generally react to the state's regulation of disability. To answer this question, four phases of interactions between traditionalist NGOs and the Russian government were identified on the basis of the activities of the All-Russian societies in the field of disability regulation. The essay draws on content analysis of Russian legislative acts on social protections for people with disabilities; documents, websites, and social media of the All-Russian Societies and mass media sources from 1995 until 2021; and 13 semistructured interviews of All-Russian Societies' representatives and experts on the Russian third sector.

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The framing of IMF and World Bank in political reform debates: The role of political orientation and policy fields in the cases of Russia and Ukraine

Cited by 8 publications

References 38 publications

The COVID-19 pandemic, the Sustainable Development Goals on health and education and “least developed countries” such as Nepal

The COVID-19 pandemic, the Sustainable Development Goals on health and education and “least developed countries” such as Nepal

Opposition to the Washington Consensus: The IMF and Social Policy Reforms in Post-Soviet Russia

Domestic NGOs Resisting Global Neoliberalism: The Impact of the All-Russian Societies of the Disabled, the Deaf, and the Blind on Russian Government Policy

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