The World Bank and the Global Rule of Capital

The World Bank was charged when it was founded in 1944 with the task of encouraging the development of productive facilities and resources in less developed countries. The Bank has always seen and continues to see the maximum development of global capitalism as the solution to poverty in the developing world. Over more than forty years, it has published policy proposals to this end in annual World Development Reports. These and related initiatives show a consistent focus on proletarianisation—the creation of a healthy, educated, and productive working class in the developing world, along with the construction of an institutional framework conducive to its participation in global value chains and indigenous capitalist development. In the present century, its policy advice has shifted away somewhat from macro-structural and macro-institutional reforms to focus on micro-level reforms that are intended to bring about changes in individual activity and behaviour that will facilitate increased engagement with competitive markets. Most recently, this orientation has been reflected in the priority the Bank attaches to shifting workers in the developing world, and especially women, from the informal into the formal sector, with an emphasis on the creation of productive jobs linked to the world market. This makes it a strong supporter of ‘gender equality’, understood as equal opportunity for women in education and work.