Canada and the World Backgrounder articles from September 2003

Canada and the World Backgrounder archives from September 2003

Generous spirits: in a less-than-perfect international aid system, there are some shining lights.(Introduction)
September 1, 2003... Many experts agree that the system for dispensing international aid has a lot of flaws. Huge amounts of money go to developing countries, but some of it doesn't make it to the intended recipients, and there are too many starving and sick people...

Weapons of Mass Salvation: what are the arguments in favour of industrialized nations transferring money to developing nations? If you view the human race as a single community, then it's the right thing to do; families pull together to help out those going through a rough spell.(Why)
September 1, 2003... In 2000, Roy Culpeper wrote a newspaper article about his view that the world's richest nations should tackle the problem of how to "enable half the planet's population to share in the considerable wealth and prosperity being generated by the...

Help through official channels: at the Bretton Woods Conference of 1944 the international community created the financial framework for development by setting up the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and their associated agencies.(How)
September 1, 2003... On the global scale the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank are the two biggest dispensers of development aid. Together, they often are referred to as the Bretton Woods Sisters after the conference that set them up in 1944....

Trade not aid: the dice are loaded: many developing countries find there are barriers to trading with the world's economic giants that they can't overcome unless it is to sell their natural resources at low cost.(Trade)
September 1, 2003... No one expects foreign aid on its own to end global poverty. Even aid organizations say global trade is one of the key areas that also has to change if lire is to improve in the world's poorest countries. In their 2002 report on overseas...

Falling behind: Canadians might see themselves as compassionate souls, but some say Canada's aid to developing countries is nothing to cheer about.(Canada)
September 1, 2003... It is now several decades since Canada took the pledge; that was a promise to dedicate 0.7% of the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to development assistance. That target was set by the United Nations as recommended in a Pearson Commission...

Hunger pains: there is enough food in the world for everyone, but one out of every seven people on Earth is hungry.(Food)
September 1, 2003... A large amount of Canada's aid budget is spent on food--we do have a surplus of the stuff and a high percentage of us are overweight. However, on World Food Day in 2002, the United Nations said that 50 million people in the world did not have...

Germ warfare: keeping the lid on infectious disease epidemics has become a worldwide concern. It's become clear that we're all at risk.(Health)
September 1, 2003... Globalization has brought many of the developing world's health issues onto the doorstep of the developed world. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is the latest manifestation that has caused enormous difficulties to one of the world's...

The business of development: there is a growing chorus coming from the business community that it should be given the job of international development, but not everyone thinks private enterprise is the way to go.(Private Versus Public)
September 1, 2003... Providing clean water and adequate sanitation to everyone is a primary concern of international development. And, so it should be when you consider that about a billion people lack the first, and about two billion are without the second....

Too much help: since the mid-1970s, non-governmental organizations have gained huge influences in world affairs. They are consulted by governments as well as international organizations such as the United Nations, which has created associative status for them. Many do excellent work, but do we need them all?(Non-Governmental Organizations)
September 1, 2003... There are now tens of thousands of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the world, operating in both developed and developing countries. They are not linked with any national government but often have a significant impact on the social,...

Quote ... unquote.
September 1, 2003... "The state has the obligation, as an instance of last resort, to ensure that nobody should die of hunger... Failure to address the silent under-nourishment of millions of children and adults in peacetime should also be regarded as a relation...

The depression's long shadow: in the midst of war's death and destruction some people of vision struggled to design a post-war economic system that would nurture international development, peace, and stability.(International Finance--Background)
September 1, 2003... Bretton Woods is a vacation spot in New Hampshire. It's a beautiful place, set in the White Mountains on the North bank of the Ammonoosuc River. In July 1944, representatives from 44 countries gathered at the resort for a three-week...

The Bretton Woods sisters: the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are based in Washington, D.C; they are not American but they are American in character. Both organizations are specialized agencies of the United Nations.(International Finance--Organization)
September 1, 2003... As long ago as 1944, the United States was the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world economy. So the delegates at the Bretton Woods Conference that designed the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund bowed to American wishes in...

Mission creep: originally created primarily to finance the reconstruction of war-torn Europe, the World Bank is now the primary financier of development projects in the Third World. The International Monetary Fund has also seen its role change.(International Finance--Changing Role)
September 1, 2003... When the Bretton Woods Sisters opened for business, they had to make things up as they went along. Nobody had tried to use public funds to spur development on such a scale before. There were no successful models to follow and the learning curve...

Calling the tune: when the International Monetary Fund lends money to a country with a troubled economy, the borrower has to undertake some often-painful reforms.(International Finance--Structural Adjustment)
September 1, 2003... By the mid-1980s, the return to laissez-faire capitalism was well under way and its principles became part of the culture of the Bretton Woods Sisters. Those guiding the World Bank and the IMF saw governments as one reason why their development...

Capitalism wobbles: the Washington Consensus has been the dominant economic policy framework of the last two decades of the 20th century, stressing the value of private enterprise, reducing the regulatory role of government, cutting taxation, increasing the reach of free trade, and removing restrictions on capital flow; it isn't popular with everyone.(International Finance--New Realities)
September 1, 2003... Opponents of the Washington Consensus have called it a "Universal Declaration of Rights for Corporations." They say it was never the subject of general debate and never submitted to a vote; the countries it has been imposed on never had any...

A change of course: there are those who want to tear down the existing international financial structure altogether and start fresh; others believe the IMF and World Bank can be reformed to operate successfully in the 21st century.(Wide gap)(Keep it simple)(Right order)(Deadly crusade)(Bury it)
September 1, 2003... James Wolfensohn became President of the World Bank in 1995; he was re-appointed in 2000. In some ways, Mr. Wolfensohn is different from most of his predecessors. Born in Australia, he is nevertheless a man with a solid background in Wall...

Debt relief, or more grief: attempts to improve the living standards for the majority of people in the developing world seem doomed to fail as long as their nations carry the huge debt burdens they have built up.(International Finance--Future)
September 1, 2003... Are we living through a period of change that is as fundamental as the upheaval of the Industrial Revolution? A lot of people think we are, among them Peter Drucker, a leading management consultant. He has called the process of globalization...