Citation

Swedberg R. J. Peace Res. 1986; 23(4): 377-390.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1986, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/002234338602300406

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

According to their articles of agreements the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are only allowed to take economic considerations into account when making a decision. This essay argues that this stance -- here labelled the doctrine of economic neutrality -- constitutes the main ideology of the IMF and the World Bank. The two major assumptions of the doctrine -- that politics can be kept out of the Fund and the Bank, and that decisions can be made on neutral, economic grounds in these two orga nizations -- are examined in detail and rejected as false. The essay ends with a suggestion about the real function of the doctrine of economic neutrality: to provide an ideological smokescreen for the powerful Western nations to intervene in favor of free trade capitalism in the domestic affairs of third world coun tries.