Multilateral organizations and global inequality: A focus on IMF, World Bank and World Trade Organizations

Abstract

The paper examines issues relating to multilateral organizations, taking a particular look at the three multilateral organizations viz IMF, World Bank and WTO. It establishes that institutional and structural variables in the multilateral organizations are skewed in favour of the developed countries and this tends to entrench their hegemony in the global scene. This has crystallized in global inequality. More so, the analysis which relies on the theory of political realism with dependency theory as a complementary theory explores the power play and dominance of interests in global affairs as a defining characteristic of relations at the global level. Again, the paper establishes that a dialectical relationship exists between development in the developed North and underdevelopment in the developing South and that the multilateral organizations are veritable instruments for perpetuating the hegemony of the developed countries, which ensures the continuation of global inequality. The paper therefore puts forward a range of recommendations that could help the developing countries in their quest for development and by so doing bridge the inequality gap.

Keywords: Multilateral, Organizations, Global, Inequality, Underdevelopment, Development