The World Bank should get a failing grade for its rankings of countries that violate workers’ rights.
This election season many voters are asking a critical question: What is the appropriate role for the United States in world affairs? By punishing those legislators who voted for war in Iraq, many citizens are rejecting the idea of the United States as a military overlord, asserting that a different set of values should guide our foreign policy.
The same type of questioning should also be applied to our economic affairs. Those who look at the values we are promoting for the global economy will find some disturbing trends. Rather than helping create a globalization that protects workers’ rights, encourages sustainable development, and prizes democratic self-determination, our country too often promotes policies that undermine the values most Americans want to uphold.
An important example of this emerged recently at the World Bank, where the United States holds a decisive share of votes and where an American sits as president. Last month the Bank issued a report entitled
