The World Bank and Private Provision of Schooling: A Look through the Lens of Sociological Theories of Organizational Hypocrisy

Mundy, Karen; Menashy, Francine

doi:10.1086/676329

Cited by 48 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…These insights from organizational sociology have been introduced to the study of international public bureaucracies, which face a range of pressures from their principals (states), organizational environments, internal bureaucratic or technocratic agendas, andoccasionally-the public. Catering to contradictory demands would obfuscate bureaucratic action, therefore a degree of hypocrisy has come to be anticipated by students of these organizations (Bukovansky 2010;Lipson 2007;Mundy and Menashy 2014;Weaver 2008). These accounts have distinguished between different gradients of hypocrisy: from blatant violations of established policies, to greyer areas where rhetoric is inadequately, superficially or haphazardly translated into practice.…”

Section: Escalating Commitment To Hypocrisymentioning

confidence: 99%

IMF conditionality and development policy space, 1985–2014

Kentikelenis

Stubbs

King

2016

Review of International Political Economy

351

312

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In recent years, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has re-emerged as a central actor in global economic governance. Its rhetoric and policies suggest that the organization has radically changed the ways in which it offers financial assistance to countries in economic trouble. We revisit two long-standing controversies: Has the policy content of IMF programmes evolved to allow for more policy space? Do these programmes now allow for the protection of labour and social policies? We collected relevant archival material on the IMF's lending operations and identified all policy conditionality in IMF loan agreements between 1985 and 2014, extracting 55,465 individual conditions across 131 countries in total. We find little evidence of a fundamental transformation of IMF conditionality. The organization's post-2008 programmes re-incorporated many of the mandated reforms that the organization claims to no longer advocate and the number of conditions has been increasing. We also find that policies introduced to ameliorate the social consequences of IMF macroeconomic advice have been inadequately incorporated into programme design. Drawing on this evidence, we argue that multiple layers of rhetoric and ceremonial reforms have been designed to obscure the actual practice of adjustment programmes, revealing an escalating commitment to hypocrisy. 'Structural adjustments? That was before my time. I have no idea what it is. We don't do that any more. No, seriously, you have to realise that we have changed the way in which we offer our financial support.'-Christine Lagarde, IMF Managing Director (IMF 2014g). 'Having known the history of [IMF] programmes, […in Iceland] the IMF was really rather flexible. I can't really make sense of this new, cuddly IMF; it can't possibly last.'-Martin Wolf, Financial Times chief economics commentator (Wolf 2011). 1 In addition, the organization's Research Department has also published new research as 'Staff Discussion Notes' (Dabla-Norris et al. 2013; 2015; Ostry, Berg, and Tsangarides 2014) that often go beyond official IMF line, as expressed in press releases, policy statements, or factsheets. The extent to which these findings are taken up in programme design is unclear, but recently, the IMF's own Independent Evaluation Office (IEO 2011 p. vii) reported 'a widespread view among IMF staff' that research findings were misaligned with the organization's policies. These issues are not further explored here.

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Section: Escalating Commitment To Hypocrisymentioning

confidence: 99%

IMF conditionality and development policy space, 1985–2014

Kentikelenis

Stubbs

King

2016

Review of International Political Economy

351

312

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“…At the same time, globally the World Bank has also been a key advocate for PPPs in education, through its policy advice, financing of country programs, and publications. In terms of financing, Mundy and Menashy (2014) find that during a five-year period from 2008 to 2012, the World Bank funded programs that included direct support for the private provision of education in seven countries spanning 10 projects (several in Pakistan)-this is 19 percent of the project documents reviewed in the study, a modest proportion of World Bank projects during this period, though not insignificant. Verger and Moschetti (2016) note that the first published reference to "PPPs for education" is found in the 2000 World Bank and ADB joint report The New Social Policy Agenda in Asia (Marshall and Bauer, 2000).…”

Section: The World Bank's Approach To Private Schools and Ppps In Pakmentioning

confidence: 92%

Equity and Quality in an Education Public-Private Partnership: A study of the World Bank-supported PPP in Punjab, Pakistan

Afridi¹

2018

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“…55 For example, Mundy and Menashy (2014) find that on balance, the Bank's publications and knowledge products "actively promote private sector provision" of education, and note that they draw almost exclusively from the discipline of economics. 56 Another study that employs a bibliometric analysis of works cited in World Bank publications on private education finds that they "rely heavily on authors connected to the World Bank itself," as well as to a narrow set of primarily US-based, elite academic institutions, raising concerns about propensity for bias. 57 More recently, in a significant shift for the Bank, the 2018 WDR takes a far more cautious approach regarding the potential of private education provision.…”

Section: What Do World Bank Publications Say About Ppps?mentioning

confidence: 99%

False Promises: How delivering education through private schools and public-private partnerships risks fueling inequality instead of achieving quality education for all

Bous¹,

Farr²

2019

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A growing body of evidence shows that education public -private partnerships (PPPs) which support private schooling are too often failing the most vulnerable children and risk deepening inequality. Despite this, the World Bank has been increasingly promoting education PPPs in poor countries through its lending and advice. Oxfam's research shows that over a fifth of World Bank education projects between 2013 and 2018 included support to governments for private provision of education. Detailed analysis also reveals the Bank's policy advice actively encourages governments to expand private provision of education. Case studies in Uganda and Pakistan raise concerns about unequal access, poor quality and low accountability. Low-fee private schools disproportionately exclude the poorest students and in particular girls, and rely on low-paid, poorly qualified teachers, many of whom are women. The World Bank and other donors should stop promoting and financing market -oriented education schemes and focus on expanding quality public schooling as a human right for all.

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The World Bank and Private Provision of Schooling: A Look through the Lens of Sociological Theories of Organizational Hypocrisy

Cited by 48 publications

References 39 publications

IMF conditionality and development policy space, 1985–2014

IMF conditionality and development policy space, 1985–2014

Equity and Quality in an Education Public-Private Partnership: A study of the World Bank-supported PPP in Punjab, Pakistan

False Promises: How delivering education through private schools and public-private partnerships risks fueling inequality instead of achieving quality education for all

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