ABSTRACT

In hi s 1996 inaugural address as presiden t of\hc World Bank, James Wolknsohn announced that institution 's reinvention as a "know ledge bank." Thi s transformation began wilh SIeve Denn ing, a program manager at the bank who, afte r rcnccting on the World Bank 's diminishing success as a lende r. envisioned a new future:

Suppose we were to share our knowlcd£c? We had over 50 years' worth of knowhow about what works in development and what doesn' t ... But if we were to make il easy for anyone in the world 10 find oul what we know. we could become re levant and useful. (Ramulillgam 2006. 59)

Ir the World Bank has "stori es to (ci l lO the nations" for reasons other than mere information referral , it likel y qualifies as a system o f persuasion (see Alvesson 1993, 10 II ); in such acase, i ts development rhetoric warrants scrutiny as an ethical concern. Regard ing ethical signifi cance, some characteri ze rhetorical :lTIi stry in public affai rs as the essence of civic virtue : md others as man ipulati ve strategy for advancing pol icy agendas. As for the fonner, rhetoric h:1S been associated with Aristotelian tradit ions o f cOllllllun i tarian " knowing" about civic matters (Green and Zinke 1993) :md understood as a means by which public administrators c:m enhance their reflecti ve and communicati ve skil ls (Farmer and P atterson 2003). But in policy arenas, rhetoric is understood as a tool to manipulate the symbols and images of p revail ing

pol ic ies or those proposed to replace them (Bau mgartner and Jones 199 1: Riker 1986; Stone 1989).