World Financial Institutions
The International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization rule trade worldwide, ostensibly helping developing countries enter the 21st century by investing in their modernization, and regulating trade to allow smaller nations compete with the big boys. But this "aid" often comes with a heavy price. Developing nations are often driven into deep debt, and then forced to turn their public services over to multinational corporations. Meanwhile, trade rules force developing nations to weaken rules on labor and environment in order to remain competitive.
News Articles
| EU: Court hits at Brussels secrecy by Andy Bounds, Financial Times November 8th, 2007 The European Union's secretive decision-making processes were condemned on Thursday in a legal judgment that should lead to more light being shed on how thousands of regulations affecting businesses are hatched. |
| CONGO: World Bank accused of razing Congo forests by John Vidal, The Guardian (UK) October 4th, 2007 The World Bank encouraged foreign companies to destructively log the world's second largest forest, endangering the lives of thousands of Congolese Pygmies, according to a report on an internal investigation by senior bank staff and outside experts. |
| BRITAIN: Companies 'looting' a continent by Fran Abrams, BBC News July 24th, 2007 Gordon Brown has signalled he wants to see poor countries develop through trade rather than aid. |
| WORLD: A Way for Resource-Rich Countries to Audit Their Way Out of Corruption by Tyler Cowen, The New York Times July 12th, 2007 An Oxford economist has a new and potentially powerful idea: setting up an voluntary international charter to guide transparency efforts in resource-rich developing countries, in order to stave of corruption. |
| UGANDA: African forest under threat from sugar cane plantation by Daniel Howden, The Independent (UK) July 10th, 2007 Conservationists in Uganda are fighting a last-ditch battle to stop the destruction of a forest reserve by a sugar corporation friendly with the government. |