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The imposition of a global development architecture: the example of microcredit

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 10:54 authored by Heloise Weber
Poverty reduction is now a prime concern of global policymakers. Renewed global efforts for poverty reduction are presented as the post-Washington Consensus. In this context, I identify an emerging ‘global development architecture’ that entails new patterns of interlinkages between the WTO, IMF, World Bank, Regional Development Banks and Bilateral and Multilateral Development Agencies. Through the example of microcredit and poverty reduction I address the political economic implications of the emerging global development architecture. I argue that microcredit (1) facilitates financial sector liberalisation and the global trade in financial services; (2) functions as a political safety-net, containing or dampening resistance at the community level to liberalisation policies and economic austerity measures. The article critically probes the emerging global development architecture and argues that it is incorporated into the reconfiguration of global political economy as a strategy of ‘crisis management’. Normative discourses underpinning the post-Washington Consensus are argued to be instrumental to efforts to legitimate the consolidation, ‘constitutionally’, of what continues to be the Washington Consensus.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Review of International Studies

ISSN

0260-2105

Publisher

British International Studies Association

Issue

3

Volume

28

Page range

537-555

Pages

1.0

Department affiliated with

  • International Relations Publications

Notes

Also published as CSGR Working Paper 77/01

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-21

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2016-03-22

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2016-11-17

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