ABSTRACT
The World Bank, Governance and Development, 1992, p. 1 The World Bank’s reputation is built on the premise that it is a technically competent institution that conducts its business without regard for politics. This identity has allowed the Bank to operate for most of its history with maximum freedom in a polarized world. Shortly after the Bank began operations, the Cold War divided nations into East and West. Developing countries chose sides or struggled to remain nonaligned. In the midst of these divisions, the Bank stood for a future in which those countries would become incorporated into the liberal international economic order supported and led by the United States. Only by emphasizing its technical and apolitical identity could the Bank gain sufficient legitimacy to lend to governments of many different political complexions, including those that were not committed to this future.1
