Governance Indicators in the Law of Development Finance: A Legal Analysis of the World Bank’s ‘Country Policy and Institutional Assessment’

The teaching of Law and Development: towards inclusiveness and reflexivity across time zones

“…If the approach to law focuses on international legal institutions and instruments shaping processes of globalisation, L&D moves closer to the field of public international or economic law (Faundez and Tan, 2010). Such an approach goes hand in hand with a focus that concentrates on the institutions and countries particularly shaping and shaped by globalisation and global capitalism (Tan, 2011;Riegner, 2016) categorised by the newer dichotomy of rule-makers vs. rule-takers and the different scope of their legal sovereignty (Dollmaier, 2019). In contrast, other courses approach law more through regional, local and mundane experiences (Eslava and Pahuja, 2012) within specific economic and social cultures and the (fragmented) subjectivities that this creates (Urueña, 2012).…”

Socializing Development

“…Through their efforts, movements effected policy and institutional reforms and increased an awareness for human rights violations in the context of development projects. Thanks to movement efforts there is an increasing awareness for the existent legal prohibition of MDBs to finance or support projects in the context of which human rights are violated (Dann and Riegner, 2014;Riegner, 2016). However, after three decades of progress, human rights accountability is under threat: the "shrinking space" for civil society undermines the capacity of social movements around the world to exercise their critical functions as watchdogs and agents of MDB socialization.…”

Legal reforms for economic development in Africa: How effective?

“…Thus, I would argue that reliance on indexes in themselves, as indicators of 'good' or 'bad' policy, or as evidence of good institutions/government performance is faulty, and does not capture accurate economic or policy positions. Riegner (2016) has criticised the methodology used by the World Bank to score and rank countries; he argued that the questionnaire is developed within the Bank, and does not incorporate the views of other stakeholders. As discussed in the investigation of Nigeria and Rwanda, 'good' laws and policies do not necessarily lead to good economic outcomes (See Chapter 4).…”

“…This approach is similar and complementary to that adopted by Doing Business and CPIA in that it groups elements into clusters. However, while benchmarks and conditionalities are not problematic in themselves, their use is limited when they do not speak to outcomes or results (Andrews, 2013;Riegner, 2016;Milhaupt, 2009;Siems, 2011). If development connotes improvement and progress (See 1.1), then it should be measured from the perspective of tangible outcomes and changes.…”

“…The PRSPs transferred the burden of strategy development and implementation to countries, but have been similarly criticised for increasing surveillance and control of countries (Harrison, 2004). The influence of IFIs is undeniable: these institutions set the terms and standards by which 'good' or 'bad' policy is determined (Riegner, 2016). In the context of debt relief, the World Bank and IMF approved or denied requests for debt relief to borrower countries, and influenced the policies of other creditors.…”