World Bank

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, in Romance languages: BIRD) or the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, better known as the World Bank, is an international organization founded to fight poverty by helping to fund countries. Operation of the World Bank maintained through payments sebagaima regulated by member states.

The World Bank's current activities are focused on developing countries, in areas such as education, agriculture and industry. World Bank gives loans with preferential rates to member countries who are in distress. In return, the Bank also asks that the economic measures to be implemented for example, corruption can be limited or democracy developed.

World Bank founded on December 27, 1945 after the ratification of international agreements reached at the conference that took place on 1 July to 22 July 1944 in the town of Bretton Woods. World Bank Headquarters in Washington, DC, USA. Technically and structurally the World Bank is one of the UN agencies, but operationally very different from other UN agencies.

Criticism

A demonstrator in the protests against the World Bank in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Although often the expectation of poor countries as a source of development loans, the World Bank is often criticized by opponents of "neo-colonial" corporate globalization. The opponents of this, which is often referred to as anti-globalization, the World Bank blamed for weakening the sovereignty of the recipient country through economic liberalization.

The most common criticism is the World Bank under the influence of certain countries (mainly United States), who have benefited most from the World Bank's activities.

Other criticisms include that the World Bank operates under the principles of neoliberalism, based on the belief that the market (free) to bring prosperity to countries that practice free competition, without any interference. In this perspective, reforms that berinspirasikan "neo-liberal" is not always appropriate for countries that experienced conflicts (ethnic wars, border conflicts, etc..) Or who have long been in a depressed condition (dictator or colonial) and countries that do not have a stable democratic political system. In this perspective, the World Bank would prefer the entry of foreign firms compared to local economic development of the country concerned.
On the other hand, liberals criticized the Bank because it only acts as a purely political organization. In this perspective, the Bank would represent a rejection of the concept of the ability of markets to regulate the economy. The liberals see it as a tool of state owned, to the international economy, which works to cover the ulcers of the policy being carried out of the country. In this perspective, the World Bank took the responsibility of liberal economics, and do not let the state policy in place.[Edit] Another criticism relates to the social and physical environment
During the period 1972 to 1989, the World Bank did not require environmental testing and environmental testing in each project submitted. Testing is only done on a small portion of the project, where the staff part of the environment, in the early 1970s, sending the checklist form to the borrower, and the borrower then sends the detailed documentation and suggestions for analysis.

Also in this period, the World Bank failed to take into account social factors, the most clearly visible in the Indonesian transmigration program in 1974 (Transmigration V). It is important to note that this occurs after the formation of the World Bank's environmental office (OESA) in 1971. According to the World Bank critic, Le Prestre, Transmigration V was the largest population resettlement program ever attempted ... designed to move the 65 million population of the nation of 165 million (at the time) within 20 years. The goal is to improve economic and social conditions of the densely populated islands, to reduce unemployment in Java, relocation of manpower to other areas, and "strengthen national unity through ethnic integration, and improved living standards of the poor. Transmigration project is considered to fail because the some cases of clashes between locals and transmigrants, and some tropical forests become damaged due to be opened into agricultural fields.