International Institutions Quotes
Criticism of the World Bank and the IMF was not limited to the turn of the century fights over development and globalization. The difficulty for the word financial institutions was and is that they believe that they have to work with whatever government is in power regardless of the legitimacy of that government or what kinds of anti-democratic methods they used to come to power and hold it. In this particular case, democracy had been displaced and right wing death squads were operating with impunity. For many, the World Bank and IMF are equally guilty for helping to prop these governments up and ignoring the gross Human Rights Violation which they failed to condemn.
The threat to which Rubin was referring was the fact that the United States, the largest dues payer to those organizations were in arrears on their dues—financially strapping the organizations. The reason for the arrears was a combination of 3 forces. There was conservative dissatisfaction with many of the policies and decisions of these international bodies. There was an effort to produce badly needed reform in those organizations, ranging from lack of transparency to toleration of massive corruption that was strongly resisted. Last, the United Nations was culturally very different from what Americans are used to with the diplomatic niceties taking precedence over candor and “telling it like it is, first class travel and accommodations for United Nations staff and consultants, sumptuous offices in many countries including America, and a civil service not based on merit but with quotas of nationality.
