Economic neutrality during the Cold War: the World Bank,the United States,and Pinochet’s Chile, 1973–1977

This paper reconstructs the unknown Chile-World Bank interactions during the formative years of Pinochet’s dictatorship (1973–1977). Prevalent understandings of the WB portray it as a loyal Washington ally. However, new evidence from the WB Archives and additional documents reveal that US efforts to make lending contingent on human rights considerations, thereby forcing the Bank to abandon its so-called economic neutrality, were only partially effective. Pinochet’s case provides a new prism to examine the cold war in Latin America and the Bank’s use of its ‘neutrality’ as a means to reach increasing autonomy from its strongest member states, mainly the United States.     

Human Rights and Multilateral Lending: The World Bank,Argentina, and the United States, 1976–1978

Abstract

Since its establishment at the Bretton Woods Conference of 1944, the World Bank (WB) has been expected to follow a self-imposed and vaguely defined principle of ‘neutrality.’ According to this principle, the decisions made by the WB and its officers were expected to be based purely on economic criteria, with no input from political considerations. By focusing on the generous support that the WB provided to the dictatorship that ruled Argentina between 1976 and 1983, especially during its formative period (1976–1978), the article examines the concrete aspects of this neutrality and the different ways in which each party involved interpreted and used it. Drawing on never previously consulted WB documents and additional primary sources, it maintains that at a time when the US, the strongest member-state in the WB, strove to make multilateral lending contingent on improvements in the human rights arena, the WB’s alleged ‘neutrality’ provided it with the means and justification to support a regime that egregiously violated those rights. Whatever the exact nature of this so-called neutrality, what is clear is that it was used to enable the WB and member states to ignore US instructions and support a right-wing regime determined to substantially liberalize Argentina’s economy.     

Has Anything Changed? The United States and Its Relations with Latin America

Joseph Smith. Unequal Giants: Diplomatic Relations between the United States and Brazil, 1889–1930 . Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.     

The United States Monopolization of Bank Note Production: Politics,Government, and the Greenback, 1862–1878

Abstract

Between 1862 and 1878, the view of the United States government towards the nation's money was transformed. Early in the Civil War, the government got into the bank note printing business out of necessity, printing and issuing the first-ever federal currency. Over the following years, debates raged whether the national currency should be printed privately or by the government's bank note printer, the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP). Matters came to a head in 1878 when Congress debated the future of the BEP. That year, in a radical departure from the past, Congress gave the Bureau of Engraving and Printing a monopoly on the production of currency, forever changing the role of the government in the nation's economy. Money, be it in the form of coin or currency, was now the exclusive province of the government – not private banks or bank note companies. This change was the result of a rare consensus between Democrats and Republicans and between the forces of the antimonopoly tradition, Greenbackism, and hard money. For various reasons, they were unanimous in believing that the government, especially Congress, should be in control of those matters affecting the monetary affairs of the country.     

In the Shadow of Globalization: The European Community and the United States in the GATT Negotiations of the Tokyo Round (1973–1979)

This article explores the trade negotiations between the United States and the European Community in the Tokyo Round of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations, held in Geneva from 1973 to 1979. The article shows how the economic turbulence and the different domestic stances and policies toward the globalizing economy split the Western members of GATT into two camps. Countries, like France and the United Kingdom, less well equipped to face increased worldwide competition and the economic crisis were not keen on trade liberalization. Countries, like the United States and Germany, better equipped to face worldwide competition and in favour of policies that strengthened it, saw trade liberalization as the right path. Eventually, under US President Jimmy Carter's leadership and with the key support of Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, the results of the Round reflected a vote in favour of liberalizing international trade. Thus, the Round was shaped by the globalizing economy but, at the same time, its results gave further impetus to the globalization wave that would reach full swing in the 1980s–1990s. The GATT talks took place in the shadow of globalization: while attempting to govern the process, also built it up.     

The North American Folk Revival: Nation and Identity in the United States and Canada, 1945–1980

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