The autonomy of international organizations? The analysis of major powers’ influence over the World Bank’s aid policies

Yooneui Kim and Youngwan Kim
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Yooneui Kim: University of Iowa, USA
Youngwan Kim: Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Korea

International Area Studies Review, 2021, vol. 24, issue 3, 224-240

Abstract: Are international organizations autonomous actors in global politics? This paper investigates whether and how major powers influence the World Bank’s official development assistance policies. Despite the World Bank’s attempts to maintain independence from its member states, we argue that major powers are still influential. Testing this expectation with the data of official development assistance provisions between 1981 and 2017, we find that the World Bank provides a higher amount of official development assistance to the recipient countries that receive a higher amount of such assistance from the major powers such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan. In addition, the World Bank is prone to provide a higher amount of official development assistance to the recipients that have a similar preference to the major powers. This study sheds light on the relations between major powers and international organizations.

Keywords: World Bank; major powers; official development assistance; ideal points; international organizations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:intare:v:24:y:2021:i:3:p:224-240

DOI: 10.1177/22338659211024879

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