Crafting the Technocratic State: The World Bank, Governance and the End of Politics Singapore Workshop on the World Bank Singapore, September 18th 2006 Pascale Hatcher - Institute of Social Studies

Paper Division 1. The Definition of Change: Challenging the Washington Consensus? 2. What’s in the Change: Institutional Theories Feeding the Framework 3. The Bank’s Politics of Anti-politics 4. PRSP, Institutional Reforms and Parliaments: Locking-in the Veto Gates?

What’s in the Change? What’s in the Change? A paradigmatic shift away from the WC? The IDM is more an attempt to manage the social & political contradictions inherent to the governance structures created by the Structural adjustment era. Acknowledging that political leaderships & structures, while often part of the problem, are also part of the solution to create a more effective & responsive State. Opening the ‘black box’ containing the complex nexus of institutions, which provides the incentives/constraints for politicians & bureaucrats to carry out public policies.

The Bank’s Politics of Anti-politics The Bank addresses politics in two processes: 1. Policy package to implement new forms of governance in order to lock-in market- enabling policies; 2. Aid allocation mechanisms that seek to ‘empower’ the poor and to stimulate CS’s participation in relation to issues that will not come to challenge the specific reforms that fit within the governance umbrella.

Parliaments & PRSP At first, little attention was given to parliaments; The role now given to parliaments appears to be carved within a depoliticised framework that focuses mainly on parliament’s possible techno- managerial function within the PRS process; An attempt to regulate the political gates susceptible to veto the reform process in PRS countries.

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