Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: To examine and refine the concept of political opportunity structures in the context of international organizations, this paper examines the political factors that make up the political opportunity structure for civil society influence at an influential international organization, the World Bank. The paper identifies six critical distinctive features of the governance of international economic and development policy as practiced through the World Bank, features which collectively define the power relations among rich country members, borrowing country members, civil society advocates, corporate interests, and the World Bank staff and management. Drawing on the history of policy change in seven issue areas at the Bank between 1985 and 2004, the paper uses process tracing methodologies to identify critical factors in the outcome of each. The adoption, implementation and revision of an Information Disclosure Policy is examined to illustrate the changing political opportunity structures and NGO mobilization strategies.