The Politics of The Politics of Hypocrisy and Change: Hypocrisy and Change:

The Rhetoric, Reality and The Rhetoric, Reality and ReformReform

of the World Bank of the World Bank

Catherine (Kate) WeaverAssistant Professor, Political Science

University of Kansascweaver@ku.edu

Beyond Polemics:Beyond Polemics: Towards a Theory of Towards a Theory of World Bank HypocrisyWorld Bank Hypocrisy

Beyond Polemics:Beyond Polemics: Towards a Theory of Towards a Theory of World Bank HypocrisyWorld Bank Hypocrisy

Driving Questions:

1. Who or what is responsible for the observed hypocrisy of the World Bank?

2. Why is hypocrisy so difficult to resolve, especially after it is exposed and becomes a critical threat to the legitimacy and political & financial support of the Bank?

Driving Questions:

1. Who or what is responsible for the observed hypocrisy of the World Bank?

2. Why is hypocrisy so difficult to resolve, especially after it is exposed and becomes a critical threat to the legitimacy and political & financial support of the Bank?

Paradox of HypocrisyParadox of HypocrisyParadox of HypocrisyParadox of Hypocrisy

IO Hypocrisy is a Double-Edged Sword:Hypocrisy shields IOs from conflicting

environmental demands: “lip service employed as a strategic survival tool”

Exposed hypocrisy can wound IOs by undermining legitimacy, authority, and political & financial support.

Exposed hypocrisy leads to pressures for reform. But resolving hypocrisy is an arduous process of organizational change that is subject to the same environmental and bureaucratic constraints that compelled hypocrisy in the first place.

IO Hypocrisy is a Double-Edged Sword:Hypocrisy shields IOs from conflicting

environmental demands: “lip service employed as a strategic survival tool”

Exposed hypocrisy can wound IOs by undermining legitimacy, authority, and political & financial support.

Exposed hypocrisy leads to pressures for reform. But resolving hypocrisy is an arduous process of organizational change that is subject to the same environmental and bureaucratic constraints that compelled hypocrisy in the first place.

Theoretical and Theoretical and Empirical GoalsEmpirical Goals

Theoretical and Theoretical and Empirical GoalsEmpirical Goals

Two Goals:

1. Explain the pressures & conditions for hypocrisy by unpacking the external and internal environments of the World Bank

2. Explain how hypocrisies endure even when IO principals and management seek to eliminate it through reform. This entails examining how the Bank’s complex external environment and internal bureaucratic politics and culture affect behavioral change in the Bank.

Two Goals:

1. Explain the pressures & conditions for hypocrisy by unpacking the external and internal environments of the World Bank

2. Explain how hypocrisies endure even when IO principals and management seek to eliminate it through reform. This entails examining how the Bank’s complex external environment and internal bureaucratic politics and culture affect behavioral change in the Bank.

What is IO Hypocrisy?What is IO Hypocrisy?What is IO Hypocrisy?What is IO Hypocrisy?

General def’n: “the disconnect between organizational talk, decisions, and actions”

Two Types of Hypocrisy Observed in the Bank:1. Mandate / Policy Incompliance2. Mainstreaming Gaps (failure to make good faith efforts to act in accordance with espoused ideals)

General def’n: “the disconnect between organizational talk, decisions, and actions”

Two Types of Hypocrisy Observed in the Bank:1. Mandate / Policy Incompliance2. Mainstreaming Gaps (failure to make good faith efforts to act in accordance with espoused ideals)

Why Hypocrisy?Why Hypocrisy?Why Hypocrisy?Why Hypocrisy?Sociological Theory on Organizational Hypocrisy

(Brunsson; Meyer & Rowan; Argyris & Schön):

When demands imposed by the external material and normative environment conflict with internal structures and culture, organizations will “decouple”, “building gaps between formal structures and actual work activities,” “disconnecting espoused theories from theories-in-use” and developing dual roles as “political” versus “action” organizations

** Presumption: Hypocrisy is a rational and strategic response to contradictory environmental pressures.

Sociological Theory on Organizational Hypocrisy (Brunsson; Meyer & Rowan; Argyris & Schön):

When demands imposed by the external material and normative environment conflict with internal structures and culture, organizations will “decouple”, “building gaps between formal structures and actual work activities,” “disconnecting espoused theories from theories-in-use” and developing dual roles as “political” versus “action” organizations

** Presumption: Hypocrisy is a rational and strategic response to contradictory environmental pressures.

Why might IOs be especially susceptible to

hypocrisy?

Why might IOs be especially susceptible to

hypocrisy? Ios are particularly dependent upon externally

conferred legitimacy and public funding Complexity of task and political environment

increases likelihood of antinomic delegation (infeasible goals) and conflicting marching orders.

Increasing number of incongruous goals inconsistent with pre-existing internal structures, SOPs and norms create conditions for hypocrisy

Ios are particularly dependent upon externally conferred legitimacy and public funding

Complexity of task and political environment increases likelihood of antinomic delegation (infeasible goals) and conflicting marching orders.

Increasing number of incongruous goals inconsistent with pre-existing internal structures, SOPs and norms create conditions for hypocrisy

Sources of Goal Sources of Goal IncongruenceIncongruence

Sources of Goal Sources of Goal IncongruenceIncongruence

Preference Heterogeneity of Multiple and Collective Principals (PA analysis)

Non-State Actors:NGOs/ CSOs (Transnational Advocacy Network analysis)Private Capital MarketsEpistemic CommunitiesOther IOs

Internal Sources of New Development Agendas

Preference Heterogeneity of Multiple and Collective Principals (PA analysis)

Non-State Actors:NGOs/ CSOs (Transnational Advocacy Network analysis)Private Capital MarketsEpistemic CommunitiesOther IOs

Internal Sources of New Development Agendas

(Un)Intentional Hypocrisy?(Un)Intentional Hypocrisy?(Un)Intentional Hypocrisy?(Un)Intentional Hypocrisy?

Underlying presumption of the theory is that hypocrisy is an intentional and strategic act by Bank management and staff to “dupe” the organizations’s many political masters and critics

Flaw: wrongly assumes that those who control the “talk” of the Bank can effectively control organizational actions and choose when and whether to connect or disconnect the two.

This neglects critical sociological insights about the complex nature of change in organizational behavior.

Underlying presumption of the theory is that hypocrisy is an intentional and strategic act by Bank management and staff to “dupe” the organizations’s many political masters and critics

Flaw: wrongly assumes that those who control the “talk” of the Bank can effectively control organizational actions and choose when and whether to connect or disconnect the two.

This neglects critical sociological insights about the complex nature of change in organizational behavior.

Changing Organizational Changing Organizational BehaviorBehavior

Changing Organizational Changing Organizational BehaviorBehavior

Aligning talk and action requires deep-level behavioral change within IOs

Behavior change results from the transformation of formal and informal structure, including deep-seeded ideologies, norms and habits, and thus may not quickly or fully respond to principal-driven reform

Behavioral Change affected by:Continued Goal Incongruence (conflicting

reform goals)Bureaucratic PoliticsOrganizational Culture

Aligning talk and action requires deep-level behavioral change within IOs

Behavior change results from the transformation of formal and informal structure, including deep-seeded ideologies, norms and habits, and thus may not quickly or fully respond to principal-driven reform

Behavioral Change affected by:Continued Goal Incongruence (conflicting

reform goals)Bureaucratic PoliticsOrganizational Culture

Notes on Methodology and Empirical Scope of

Book

Notes on Methodology and Empirical Scope of

Book Methodology:

1.5 years of qualitative, ethnographic fieldwork in World Bank headquarters and in Moscow, Russia.

> 100 interviews, extensive non-participant observation, content analysis of official and unofficial Bank documents, reports, and internal correspondence

Empirical Scope: detailed historical and contemporary description of

the external and internal environments of the Bank;case studies of the origins and dynamics of

hypocrisy in the Bank’s good governance and anti-corruption agendas and the Strategic Compact Reform period (1997-2001)

Methodology: 1.5 years of qualitative, ethnographic fieldwork in

World Bank headquarters and in Moscow, Russia. > 100 interviews, extensive non-participant

observation, content analysis of official and unofficial Bank documents, reports, and internal correspondence

Empirical Scope: detailed historical and contemporary description of

the external and internal environments of the Bank;case studies of the origins and dynamics of

hypocrisy in the Bank’s good governance and anti-corruption agendas and the Strategic Compact Reform period (1997-2001)