ABSTRACT
Since the Second World War the World Bank-International Monetary Fund (IMF) led development strategies underwent dramatic shifts. In order to understand the present policy discourses we need to know the policy context that contributed to the shifts in the strategies of the Bretton Woods Institutions (BWIs). This chapter deals with the dynamics of policy leverage imposed through the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) on poor countries. It captures changes in BWIs policies, which premise the policy context of Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), as outcomes of various factors such as BWIs' policy failures and the contemporary popular struggles and resistances. The chapter presents an overview of the evolution of development strategies spearheaded by international donors and rich countries from a global point of view. The aid conditionality accompanied by SAPs compelled developing countries to open-up their economies to global competition and to substantially reduce the role of government. The Washington Consensus visibly advocated a market led economy with very little role for the government.
