New book: Stéphanie de Moerloose, “World Bank environmental and social conditionality as a vector of sustainable development” (Schulthess, 2020)

Stéphanie de Moerloose, “World Bank environmental and social conditionality as a vector of sustainable development” (Schulthess, 2020)

There has been heated debate regarding the legitimacy and implementation of the World Bank Group’s environmental and social safeguards. These safeguards are nevertheless instrumental vectors of sustainable development in recipient countries, as they are included in conditionality in loan agreements. This book therefore addresses the issue of how to reinforce the safeguards’ role as effective vectors of sustainable development, while avoiding sovereignty infringement and dealing with non-compliance.

In addressing this key question, the book first aims to diagnose the problems faced by conditionality based on environmental and social safeguards. Subsequently, through three case studies, it proposes different avenues for change, e.g. human rights-based harmonization of safeguards across Multilateral Development Banks; institutional changes in the World Bank Group; and a strict assessment of the suitability of the recipient’s context for implementing the safeguards.

Prof. Stéphanie de Moerloose is a Swiss National Science Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Humboldt University of Berlin and an Affiliated Professor at the Faculty of Law of Universidad Austral, Argentina (both LDRN partner institutions). She is currently a member of the LDRN steering committee.