Battle, K. (2014). World Bank Issues: The policy imposed on Russia. In Covell, K.,
& Howe,
R.B. (Eds), A question of commitment:
People’s rights in the World (pp. 21-44). Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid
Laurier University Press.
Ken Battle explains that the World Bank has
developed a free-market strategy and wants it to be applied everywhere,
regardless of the nature of the problems. The World Bank workers in Europe and
Washington are responsible for handling the task of reconstructing the Former Soviet Union (FSU). The author further
outlines some fundamental assumptions supporting the belief that all societies
should support the World Bank even when its policies are not up to the mark. A
large number of consultants coming from the West to reform the FSU have no
experience of working outside their cities. Battle laments that the government has
scaled back this program in favor of the Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB).
However, he could make the work stronger and better by conducting a few
surveys. The author does offer valuable sources to prove his points and helps
other analyze the financial reality and the scope of the World Bank in the
United States of America. Despite an abundance of experiences about what type
of policies the World Bank introduces, Ken sees lots of new projects that may fail
in coming months.
