The world bank as a knowledge agency

Abstract

"This paper claims that the production of social knowledge in all international organizations is problematic, because of their nature as a form of public bureaucracy. This general claim is advanced as a modification of Weber’s theory of bureaucracy. The modification points out the potential misalignment of the formal official hierarchy and the actual distribution of the means of power. This permits the emergence of a conflict between the aims of the disinterested researcher and the political neutrality imputed by Weber to the modern bureaucrat."(pg iii)