A Prospective Enlargement of the Roles of the Bretton Woods Financial Institutions in International Peace Operations

This Article reviews the principal means of IFI peace-building and offers several proposals to enhance the effectiveness of those means. Focusing primarily on the World Bank Group and the IMF, this Article posits that profound changes are necessary if the Bretton Woods institutions are to realize their potential as leaders in the international peace process. Part I of this Article provides a brief historical account of the Bretton Woods institutions and discusses relevant provisions in their charters, elucidating the factors that have traditionally prevented IFI participation in peace operations. Part II describes and reviews IFI post-conflict reconstruction programs in the post-Cold War era, devoting particular attention to the 1997 World Bank initiative entitled A Framework for World Bank Involvement in Post-Conflict Reconstruction (the “Framework”). Part III reviews conditionality, as exercised by the IMF and the World Bank Group, and discusses its potential as a tool for peace-building. Finally, Part IV offers proposals for greater IFI impact and efficiency in peace operations, including a reinterpretation of the concept of ”political” action as employed in the IBRD, IDA, and regional bank Articles of Agreement; a more flexible and country-specific approach to conditionality; and a greater coordination with relief agencies, non-governmental organizations, bilateral donors, and other U.N. organizations. A PROSPECTIVE ENLARGEMENT OF THE ROLES OF THE BRETTON WOODS FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS IN INTERNATIONAL PEACE OPERATIONS