Demystifying Bretton Woods Institutions' Rhetoric on Public Services.

Abstract

This article reviews Bretton Woods Institutions' approach to public services, including during the recent COVID-19 crisis. Drawing on the specific case of IMF and World Bank's response to the multiple crisis triggered by the pandemic, it shows that there is a discourse-practice disjuncture in the institutions approach to public services as they continue to favour austerity and market-oriented solutions for the delivery of public services. The article therefore seeks to demystify the Bretton Woods institutions rhetoric and demand the adoption of a different way of understanding public services, and social policy more broadly.