The picture the World Bank paints of the world is an optimistic one: living standards are higher than ever before, humanity is progressing, and situations for women are improving. If this is really the case, why then does "the impoverishment of hundreds of millions of people" throughout the world continue? (Chossudovsky 1997, 33). Why do "the…

On the threshold of the 1970's, governments dedicate themselves anew to the fundamental objectives enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations 25 years ago to create conditions of stability and well-being and to ensure a minimum standard of living consistent with human dignity through economic and social progress and development. (WL)

The president of the World Bank Group outlines the great need for developed and developing countries to make greater efforts to rescue poorer nations and other impoverished areas from their continuing poverty. (Author/RK)

A consideration of the Arab world illustrates the fact that there can be riches and "growth" with slow or stagnating human development and with significant levels of poverty, and that growth might "perhaps" be an engine of human development if there is "good governance." Good governance refers to the existence of…