Introduction

Abstract

International Financial Institutions (IFIs) have consistently exercised considerable influence over policy-making in Latin America and they have traditionally been able to call upon a range of tools in order to uphold their authority and to standardize and reproduce hegemonic projects of development. The neoliberal response to debt crisis in Latin America during the 1980s and 1990s was held in place by the formulation of global rules around governance and development which were backed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the multilateral development banks, in particular the World Bank. However, as this book will argue, despite having apparently little room for dissent from the global rule, IFIs have had to work with domestic actors over policy implementation in developing countries. Reforming governance institutions for development is entrenched in social relations and political realities and thus is likely to lead to either support or contestation. As such, advancing ‘good’ governance takes more than the financial and intellectual authoritative stance of the IFIs. Local knowledge and legitimacy are critical aspects in the politics of governance reforms. This is becoming a more pressing matter since Latin America is currently capitalizing in an enabling international context to build alternative and more autonomous governance in stark contrast to the neoliberal models promoted for more than two decades in the region.