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The World Development Report 2009 ‘reshapes economic geography’: geographical reflections

| By J. Rigg, A. Bebbington, K.Gough, D. Bryceson, J. Agergaard, N.Fold, Cecilia Tacoli | Published in Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 34 (2): 128-136 | | Full text (PDF) | Introduction: By and large, geographers have had little to say about the World Bank’s annual flagship World Development Reports (WDRs). However, with the just published WDR 2009 […]

Of texts and practices: empowerment and organizational cultures in World Bank-funded rural development programmes

| By A. Bebbington, D. Lewis, S. Batterbury, E. Olson and S. Siddiqi | Published in Journal of Development Studies, 43(4): 597-621 | Abstract: The World Bank’s recent concern for ‘empowerment’ grows out of longer standing discussions of participation, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society. While commitments to empowerment enter World Bank texts with relative ease, […]

The search for empowerment: Social capital as idea and practice at the World Bank

| Edited by A Bebbington, M. Woolcock, S. Guggenheim, and E. Olson | Published by Kumarian, West Hartford | The contributors to this collection examine the vast bureaucracy of the World Bank and explore the possibilities of internally generated change. The book focuses on the debates within the Bank about the efficacy of social capital […]

Exploring Social Capital Debates at the World Bank

| By Anthony Bebbington, Scott Guggenheim, Elizabeth Olson, and Michael Woolcock | Published in Journal of Development Studies, 40 (5):33-64 | Abstract: This article explores the ways in which discussions of social capital have emerged within the World Bank,and how they interacted both with project practices and with larger debates in the institution. These debates are […]