HEATHER MARQUETTE, International Development Department, School of Public Policy, University of Birmingham
Book Review: Demanding Accountability: Civil Society Claims and the World Bank Inspection Panel. Edited by Dana Clark, Jonathan Fox and Kay Treakle. Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc, 2003. Pp. + 311. £22.95. ISBN 0 7425 3310 7
The Journal of Development Studies, Vol. 41, No. 5, July 2005, pp. 927 – 935
It is a rare thing indeed when an academic book has me anxiously turning the pages waiting to see what’s going to happen next (I do include my own in this, of course!). This might be a slight exaggeration, but there are many components in Demanding Accountability that are also found in the best airport novels: rich versus poor; international conspiracy; backroom bargaining; corruption; murder; death threats; and so on. Unfortunately, this is not a novel. It is a well researched and documented account of the real tragedies that follow on from ill-conceived development projects and the stories of ordinary citizens (and some not so ordinary, such as the Dalai Lama) trying to hold the World Bank to account.
The World Bank’s Inspection Panel is still relatively unique among international agencies – a citizen-driven accountability mechanism that ‘allows local people who are affected by a World Bank-funded project to file a complaint and request an independent investigation into whether the bank complied with its own environmental and social policies’ (p.xii). The Bank set these standards after a number of high profile disasters in the 1980s. However, as this book clearly shows, the pressure to meet lending targets still results in some poor lending decisions, badly designed projects, a lack of local participation and eventually, ‘development disasters’.
The book presents a range of case studies based on complaints investigated by the Inspection Panel. A number of countries are represented here (Nepal, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Bangladesh, Chile, India, China). Of a total of 28 complaints filed thus far with the Inspection Panel, the nine cases presented here are the only ones that have actually gone through full investigation (three are still pending, including the high profile Chad-Cameroon Pipeline case). Investigation can only proceed if a complaint meets certain criteria (an excellent overview is provided in Box 1.1, p.10). Among other things, the claim must involve two or more people living in the affected area who have been (or believe they will be) harmed by the project; it cannot be retroactive; and can only involve complaints directly involving Bank staff and projects (so no investigations of the behaviour of borrowing governments or other actors).
Each of the cases tells a story, building a picture of what really happens on the ground with development projects, as well as informing the reader of the outcome of Panel investigations. For example, in Nepal, national NGOs had to convince locals to listen to their account of the probable impact of the Arun III Hydroelectric Project, rather than listen to the hard sell of the government, highlighting the difficulty in getting local support for claims. In Singrauli, India, the claimants met with repression and violence, while the Indian government refused the Inspection Panel access for investigation. In Tibet, massive international pressure ensured that the Panel process was completed properly, despite Bank country staff interference (a regular feature in all the case studies), and the loan was cancelled. Despite this, the Chinese government continued on with its controversial resettlement programme, with its own funds, but at least it continues without the Bank’s ‘stamp of approval’.
Clark et al. know what they’re talking about. The impressive list of contributors includes international lawyers, environmental and human rights activists and advisors, distinguished academics and even a founding member of the Inspection Panel. All of this is reason itself to read the book. I fear, however, that the book will find a rather narrow audience in ‘development studies’ or ‘environment studies’, while it should instead easily appeal across the social sciences. At the very least, this book makes it clear that the Inspection Panel brings ‘participatory development’ onto a whole new level: that of international law, a realm usually reserved solely for nation states (p.9). That in itself makes it highly significant and worthy of wider study. This book provides an excellent introduction to this unique mechanism and should find a wide audience among students, academics, practitioners and activists.
