The World Bank rhetoric on the Rule of Law
In describing the incorporation of the “rule of law” agenda in the Bank, I
will focus on the writings of Ibrahim Shihata, general counsel and senior vice
president of the World Bank from 1983 to 1998. Shihata stands out as the main
architect of the “rule of law” in the Bank and as a bridge between different
phases and policy models pursued.49
Writing in 1990, Ibrahim Shihata inaugurated and set out to justify the
Bank’s work on governance . 50 Mindful of the prohibitions against intervening
in countries’ internal political affairs under the Bank’s mandate, laid down
in its Articles of Agreement,51 Shihata undertook the task of defining governance
and drawing its limits.Distinguishing those aspects of governance that
fell within the Bank’s mandate from those representing prohibited “political
considerations” became crucial for considering intervention in borrowing
countries without violating the Bank’s mandate.52 Revisiting Shihata’s explanation
reveals the difficulties he faced trying to expand the competence of
the Bank in areas understood to be reserved to the domestic jurisdiction of
States. Shihata aimed at carving out a new sphere of action for the Bank while
advocating its nonpolitical character. To achieve this, he emphasized the distinction
between political and economic considerations, the former outside
the Bank’s reach, the latter within the Bank’s area of expertise. This is arguably
why Shihata preferred to speak of governance rather than government. Government
was unmistakably political whereas governance deemphasized the