ABSTRACT
Introduction This chapter is about the politics of the World Bank’s recent interest in mainstreaming parliaments in the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) process. Emphasising participation and ownership, the introduction of PRSs has offered new opportunities for different actors to participate in their country’s strategies, most notably Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). While debates have been raging on the quality of CSO participation in PRS, there has curiously been very little discussion over the significant absence of Members of Parliament (MPs) from the process. Until recently, the Bank has been keen to justify such absence by emphasising MPs’ long-lasting record of predatory behaviour as well as their lack of capacity. And there is no doubt such behaviour has been endemic in the parliaments of many countries under reform. However, after years of excluding parliamentarians from the PRS process, the Bank has recently developed an interest in them.
