ABSTRACT

In the Cold War days, the Soviet Union was accused of fomenting unruliness, subversion and chaos throughout the South. In the 1980s, ill-effects of structural adjustment were ascribed to governmental incompetence or stubbornness. If sustainable poverty reduction turns out to be just another mirage, institutional responsibility for failure must not be seen to be the fault of the Bank itself. The only other possible culprits will be the Bank’s partners who are the governments of those countries within whose borders large numbers of the poor are to be found. In nineteenth-century France, the bourgeoisie referred to the poor as the dangerous classes. In the 1960s, RSM remained firmly within that tradition, viewing the poor’s potential to blow things apart and their burgeoning numbers as a threat to global security ultimately more dangerous than the enemy to the east. Years of unimpeded Bank policies have helped to transform McNamara’s ‘dangerous gap’ between the rich and poor worlds into a chasm.