Journalist’s crib sheet: How to cover World Bank elections

The crib sheet on “how to cover African elections” [h/t Duncan Green] made it almost too easy… Freelance journalist Jina Moore complains about the typical Western media coverage of disputed elections in Africa. She says a certain stereotype of rigged elections is portrayed, while the media ignore the very free and fair elections happening elsewhere on the continent.

But the text was so easily adaptable to the World Bank! With a few tweaks (underlines are merely filling in Jina’s crib sheet, tweaks are in red), I just had to give it a go:

“These days, nowhere are crises selection processes more predictable than in the World Bank (poor/recently violent country). And yet, when they unfold as anticipated, Western policymakers and diplomats always seem caught off guard — raising questions about the competence, willingness, and commitment of the Washington-based representatives diplomatic corps and the United Nations mission to discharge their responsibilities and meet their promises for a process that is truly fair.”

“….Nothing underscores the apathy and inconsistency hypocrisy that characterize Western diplomacy in the World Bank more than the current impasse…The legitimacy crisis threatens to trigger another round of civil war 5-years of criticism in an institution country that has already had 65 years of uncontested US dominance while funding hundreds if not thousands of projects that have destroyed the envionrment, contributed to human rights abuses, and undermined public services needed to end poverty (short-phrase recap of how many people died there in recent memory, thereby justifying interest).”

“The hundreds of civil society organisations demanding an open, merit-based and transparent selection process without regard to nationality [major INGO] cited serious irregularities, including the loss of political will (electoral documents) in emerging market capitals (city/town/village), growing economic strongholds but where agreement on a single opposition candidate was hard to achieve … Meanwhile, according to European civil society groups  (INGO) multiple locations in Europe (another city/town/village), a bastion of American candidate (current ruler) supporters, reported impossibly high rates of 99 to [over] 100 percent voter turnout, with all or nearly all votes going to the incumbent.”

“….As grievances and disputes over electoral law the selection process arose, the World Bank executive board  [independent electoral commission] failed to provide an adequate forum for dialogue with emerging markets representatives and civil society organisations.”

“…..The independence of these commissioners board members has been called into question as nearly all of them have regularly shown bias against non-American candidates

“…..These same international actors remained silent about the allegations of environmental destruction and human rights abuses in Bank projects fraud and irregularities, even as hundreds of complaints at the Inspection Panel and CAO (local/national orgs) denounced violence and abuses. Their silence has helped spawned (sic) a crisis that could have easily been averted.”

While that certainly wasn’t entirely fair of me, it was fun…

4 thoughts on “Journalist’s crib sheet: How to cover World Bank elections

  1. It was a fair point – I’ve added more info on the ‘about’ section of the blog, and am encouraging all contributors to put details about themselves on their profiles.

  2. Hi Jag, We replied on another of your comments. The blog is contributed to by many organisations. The blog hosting fee of £83 was paid for by the Bretton Woods Project. I am a staff member of the Bretton Woods Project. All the information about our funders, staff, management, and board are transparently available on our website. See here: http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/project/about.shtml.

  3. When will you folks also be less hypocritical and give your readers more details about your organization, it’s management and it’s financing?

  4. Maybe it’s time the World Bank Divert a little function!

    During this time, one of the world Bank is acting in the finance world, meaning that the World Bank can be considered as the foundation for poor countries to get help with software selogan help flowering. This means that each of the countries that need money to continue development in the country, the country can apply for a loan to a world bank with a loan facility that is tantalizing that must be paid back by the lender to the World Bank with little reward in the form of interest. But it does little to lower interest rates, but for long term projects in particular payments relating to human resource development-characterized by the construction of schools, laboratories, ment, too, this would obviously be folded and increase the value of interest and withdrawal of funds to the incorporated areas in the world bank. Whether it was the right policy? at times it may be appropriate but for the future or the present policy would be reviewed, as well as for other assistance that can be utilized by the World Bank.
    Whether it was the right policy? at times it may be appropriate but for the future or the present policy would be reviewed, as well as for other assistance that can be utilized by the World Bank. So to that for the next World Bank chief, must the people who understand the problems in the developing and underdeveloped countries are now, until he can find a policy model and also to the inside and out as the world’s users of bank services, and anyone from any sources currently it does not matter anymore, as long as they can and can for the welfare of all children of this nation in the world. Thank you
    .

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