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Lecture to examine role of World Bank

By John Andert '10
March 5, 2008

What happens when one of the largest organizations in the world working to reduce poverty fails to follow through on its promises?

MichaelGoldmanLarge
Goldman
Michael Goldman, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota and a McKnight Presidential Fellow, will examine that question as he explores the work of the World Bank during a lecture at St. Olaf College March 17. His lecture, titled "The World Bank, Global Poverty, and Bangalore, India," will begin at 7 p.m. in Buntrock Commons' Sun Ballroom. It is free and open to the public.

Goldman's most recent research has been in Bangalore, where he spent a sabbatical researching the World Bank's attempt to use information technology (IT) sectors to turn mega-cities into "world-cities."

The work of the World Bank
The World Bank provides impoverished countries with financial and technical assistance in the areas of education, health, infrastructure, communications and government reforms. In his book, Imperial Nature, Goldman questions and critiques the World Bank's way of following through on their solutions to poverty.

Goldman first became aware of the World Bank while living in the Thar Desert in western India. There he lived along one of the world's largest irrigation canals, which was built on World Bank plans and capital.

"Described by the World Bank as an exemplary 'sustainable development' project, it was designed to bring Himalayan mountain water and then affluence to the harsh Indian desert. What startled me most as my research took shape was the enormous gap between World Bank depictions of the Thar Desert experience and my own observations ... the canals I saw were marked by constant shortages of cement, a crucial ingredient for lining the canals to keep them from leaking precious water," Goldman writes in Imperial Nature.

The World Bank's ideas for solving the world's problems have been proactive measures, but Goldman questions what happens if the services provided fail to live up to the standards of what countries need. He also questions what the responsibility of the World Bank is after it has fulfilled a particular project.

IT Sectors in Bangalore
Goldman's main area of concern is how the World Bank is supplying money to the growing IT sectors in Bangalore, a very prosperous and technological-savvy city. The World Bank is giving loans directly to city entities rather than to countries, which it believes will help in the fight against poverty. But Goldman says that putting money into IT sectors will cause problems such as water and environmental issues as well as social justice issues. In his lecture, he will offer his thoughts on how to reduce poverty with policies and practices.

Goldman says his lecture calls out not only to those interested in environmental or social issues, but rather a society as a whole. We are all interconnected and play a large role in how not only we react to the world but how the world reacts to us, he says.

Ryan Sheppard, assistant professor of sociology at St. Olaf, says that the lecture will apply to everyone. "Professor Goldman's recent research speaks to all of us -- whether we're concerned about global poverty, curious about or troubled by the World Bank, interested in the globalization of IT and other economic sectors, or interested in India and other parts of the global south," she says.

Contact Kari VanDerVeen at 507-786-3970 or vanderve@stolaf.edu.