1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Dismal news from the dismal science, 2007-11-27
Even if you are somewhat aware of the scourge known as the World Bank you would probably be aghast at the carefully documented disasters covered in MORTGAGING THE EARTH. Bruce Rich, senior attorney and director of the International Program at the Environmental Defense Fund, spent more than a year cataloging the material in this comprehensive investigative report. World Bank projects have dislocated millions of people, impoverished the poor, facilitated wide transmission of disease, deforested Amazonia, and set up a system of debtor nations who pay tribute in the form of labor and resources. As economies collapse under the strain of foriegn debt, the International Monetary Fund steps in and forces "restructuring" or "adjustments" which almost universally cuts social and health services, forces more people off of their land and diverts more of a nation's wealth to repayment of loans. All of this damage has been wrought in the name of development and with the pretense of helping bring the third world into modern times. Instead, it has created a fourth world of environmental and developmental refugees. A dismal tale indeed.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
An Excellent Critique of Macro-Development, 2000-02-03
Bruce Rich has given those of us interested in the politics of development much to think about. His well-researched, thought-provoking analysis of the World Bank, while scrupulously fair, is scathing. From EGAT in Thailand, through Polonoroeste in Brazil, to the Narmada Dams in India, he paints a picture of an institution that is out of control and which bears at least partial responsibility for much human suffering and environmental devastation. While the World Bank would have us believe that it is on the cutting edge of responsible development and is assisting the entire Third World in its struggle to develop, Rich shows us some of the consequences of the philosophy that development is good, no matter what its human and environmental costs.
I use this book as a primary text in a college-level introductory comparative politics course dealing with the Third World. My students have been shocked by this book into some original thought about the conceptions underlying development strategies, and, I think, have emerged from this course with minds that are more open to challenging the conventional wisdom regarding the politics of development. For that, if nothing else, Rich deserves a vote of thanks.