In order to appreciate the full extent of this impact, it is necessary first to recognise the
enormous influence that the World Bank had at that time as ‘‘a trendsetter for development
thinking’’ (Baken & van der Linden (1993) quoted in Huchzermeyer (1999, p. 24)). Thus, it gave
direction to the consulting community, to major western governments (the EU and the United
States particularly), and to the United Nations community of development organisations
(Huchzermeyer, 1999, p. 26).