Abstract
This thesis investigates the relationship between the World Bank and Upper Middle-income Countries (UMIC), as its largest recipients of funds. It postulates that, not only the UMICs are crucial for financing the Bank’s administration, but they also function as examples of best practices in the World Bank's strategies for developing countries. The World Bank is one of the main multilateral financial institutions along with the International Monetary Fund as one of the Bretton Woods institutions. It historically has used its material and ideological power as instruments for spreading a developmental agenda.UMICs’ projects are used as models by the Bank to be replicated in other developing countries, and they provide the institution with a coping mechanism to address the loss of institutional credibility and political legitimacy post Washington Consensus. This research analyses the role of UMICs in the World Bank strategies through an in-depth analysis of the case study of Brazil’s Bolsa Família Program, in which the World Bank worked together with the Brazilian administration in the improvement of the design of the programme, which was later replicated it to other countries. The analysis is primarily qualitative and draws on both interviews and content analyses of the logical framework, indicators, and language in the World Bank’s reports. The main questions are: 1) Why does the World Bank focus most of its lending to Upper Middle-Income countries instead of giving preference to more dependent states? 2) What is the Bank trying to achieve through its lending to UMIC? 3) How does it intend to achieve this? 4) To whom is this relationship more important – to the UMICs or to the World Bank?
Keywords: World Bank, Middle-income Countries, Global Governance, International Organizations, Brazil
| Date of Award | 1 Jul 2023 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Supervisor | Adriana Schor (Supervisor) & Alfredo Saad Filho (Supervisor) |