This paper maps out how (international) legal concepts and norms were employed during the inter-institutional struggle between the United Nations (UN) and the World Bank (Bank) in the era of decolonization. The first contribution of the paper is historiographical. Drawing on material from the Bank’s (oral) archives, the paper gives an original account of the ways in which the organization bypassed the ‘universalist’ aspirations that were gaining a foothold in the UN’s democratic bodies. Secondly...
Exploring international organisations’ idiosyncratic reluctance to human rights
Arguing that the realization of the function for which they have been created must take precedence over all other considerations, international organisations have tended to present the realization of that function as essential to protecting universal interests. In doing so, they have however contributed to weakening human rights standards. This contribution explores the reasons of that idiosyncratic reluctance to human rights.
