Abstract
For the developing world and the former centrally planned economies, development and reconstruction aid comes largely in the form of loans, grants and guarantees from international financial institutions. Chief among these are the World Bank Group2 and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which lent a total of EUR 12.3 billion and EUR 2.4 billion, respectively, in 1999. This financial capital has afforded the lenders considerable influence over their borrowers’ economic practices and policies. Despite policies of political neutrality and non-interference held by some development banks,3 this influence has extended to the political sphere as well. As Gill (1995) contends, the multilateral development banks have become agents of ‘disciplinary neoliberalism,’ a form of global economic governance imposed by the structural power of financial capital and the behavioral power of conditionality policies.
The author gratefully acknowledges research support rom the American-Scandinavian Foundation and the Leopold Schepp Foundation. The author is indebted to the Barents Secretariat, Kirkenes, Norway, for their kind assistance in connection with this research. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the International Conference on the Barents Euro-Artic Region, Oslo, 27–28 April 1998, sponsored by the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Aanesen, M. (1995). ‘Transboundary Co-operation to Solve Environmental Problems: The Case of SO2 Emissions in the Border Area between Norway and Russia,’ pages 127–42 in Dahlström, M., Eskelinen, H. and Wiberg, U. (eds). The East-West Interface in the European North. Uppsala, Sweden, Nordisk Samhällsgeografisk Tidskrift.
AMAP (1997). Arctic Pollution Issues: A State of the Arctic Environment Report. Oslo, Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme.
Barents Council (1994). ‘Environment Action Programme.’ Declaration from the first meeting of environment ministers, Bodø, Norway, 15 June 1994. Kirkenes, Norway, Barents Secretariat.
Barents Council (1995). Declaration from the second meeting of environment ministers, Rovaniemi, Finland, 14–15 December 1995. Kirkenes, Norway, Barents Secretariat.
Barents Council, Environment Task Force (1994). Minutes of the first meeting of the task force for the further development of the environment action programme, Oslo, 17–18 November 1994. Kirkenes, Norway, Barents Secretariat.
Barents Council, Environment Task Force (1995a). Minutes of the fourth meeting of the task force for the further development of the environment action programme and the preparatory meeting of the ministers of the environment, Rovaniemi, Finland, 2–3 October 1995. Kirkenes, Norway, Barents Secretariat.
Barents Council, Environment Task Force (1995b). ‘Report to the Barents Council, Rovaniemi, 14–15 December 1995.’ Kirkenes, Norway, Barents Secretariat.
Barents Council, Environment Task Force (1997). ‘Report to the Third Ministerial Conference [of Environment Ministers], St. Petersburg, 9 October 1997.’ Kirkenes, Norway, Barents Secretariat.
Barents Council, Environment Task Force (1999). ‘Report to the Barents Council, Fourth Meeting of Environment Ministers, Umeå, 10–11 June 1999.’ Kirkenes, Norway, Barents Secretariat.
Berntsen, T. (1994). ‘Handlingsprogram for miljøvern i De europeiske nordområder.’ [Action Programme for Environmental Protection in the European North]. Speech delivered at the first meeting of environment ministers of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council, Bodø, Norway, 15 June 1994. Oslo, Ministry of Environment.
Connolly, B. (1996). ‘Increments for the Earth: The Politics of Environmental Aid,’ pages 327–65 in Keohane, R.O., and Levy, M.A. (eds). Institutions for Environmental Aid: Pitfalls and Promise. Cambridge, MIT Press.
Connolly, B. and List, M. (1996). ‘Nuclear Safety in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union,’ pages 233–79 in Keohane, R.O. and Levy, M.A. (eds). Institutions for Environmental Aid: Pitfalls and Promise. Cambridge, MIT Press.
Darst, R.G. (1997). ‘Bribery and Blackmail in East-West Environmental Politics,’ Post-Soviet Affairs 13(1), pages 42–77.
EBRD (1996a). Environmental Procedures. Rev. ed. London, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
EBRD (1996b). The Nuclear Safety Account. London, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Env. Task Force. See Barents Council, Environment Task Force.
Gill, S. (1995). ‘Globalisation, Market Civilisation, and Disciplinary Neoliberalism,’ Millennium 24(3): 399–423.
Haas, P.M. (1993). ‘Protecting the Baltic and North Seas,’ pages 133–181 in Haas, P.M., Keohane, R.O. and Levy, M.A. (eds). Institutions for the Earth: Sources of Effective International Environmental Protection. Cambridge, MIT Press.
Hjorth, R. (ed.) (1996). Baltic Environmental Cooperation: A Regime in Transition. Linköping, Sweden, Linköping University.
Keohane, R.O. and Levy, M.A. (eds) (1996). Institutions for Environmental Aid: Pitfalls and Promise. Cambridge, MIT Press.
Le Prestre, P. (1989). The World Bank and the Environmental Challenge. London and Toronto, Associated University Press.
NEFCO (1995a). Proposals for Environmentally Sound Investment Projects in the Russian Part of the Barents Region. Vol. 1, Non-radioactive Contamination. Helsinki, Nordic Environmental Finance Corporation.
NEFCO (1995b). Proposals for Environmentally Sound Investment Projects in the Russian Part of the Barents Region. Vol. 2, Radioactive Contamination. Helsinki, Nordic Environmental Finance Corporation.
NEFCO (1998). Årsredovisning 1997. [Annual Report 1997]. Helsinki, Nordic Environmental Finance Corporation.
NEFCO (1999). Årsredovisning 1998. [Annual Report 1998]. Helsinki, Nordic Environmental Finance Corporation.
Nelson, P.J. (1996). ‘Internationalising Economic and Environmental Policy: Transnational NGO Networks and the World Bank’s Expanding Influence,’ Millennium 25(3), pages 605–33.
NIB (1998). Annual Report 1997. Helsinki, Nordic Investment Bank.
NIB (1999). Annual Report 1998. Helsinki, Nordic Investment Bank.
Rich, B. (1984). Mortgaging the Earth: The World Bank, Environmental Impoverishment, and the Crisis of Development. Boston, Beacon.
Scrivener, D. (1996). Cooperation in the Arctic: From Strategy to Council. Oslo, Den Norske Atlanterhavskomité.
Shekhovtsov, A.V. and Zvonov, V.J. (1993). ‘Towns of the Russian Federation with a High Level of Anthropogenic Load,’ Russian Meteorology and Hydrology 1, pages 103–10.
Sigurdsson, J. (1997). ‘The Environment of the Barents Region and the Role of the Nordic Investment Bank,’ pages 129–35 in Heininen, L. and Langlais, R. (eds). Europe’s Northern Dimension: The BEAR Meets the South. Rovaniemi, Finland, University of Lapland Press.
United Nations (1992). ‘Rio Declaration on Environment and Development,’ annex I in Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3–14 June 1992, A/Conf. 151/26 (vol. 1).
World Bank (1994). Staff Appraisal Report: Russian Federation Environmental Management Project. Report no. 12838-RU. Washington, DC, World Bank.
World Bank (1995). The World Bank Operational Manual. Washington, DC, World Bank.
World Bank (1999). Annual Report 1999. Washington, DC, World Bank.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2000 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Sawhill, S.G. (2000). Underwriting the Environment: Development Bank Influence in the Barents Region. In: Hedegaard, L., Lindström, B., Joenniemi, P., Östhol, A., Peschel, K., Stålvant, CE. (eds) The NEBI Yearbook 2000. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-58337-7_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-58337-7_8
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-63541-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-58337-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive