Topic Proposal:

In my paper I plan to explore how large organizations like the WB and IMF, as well as large scale NGO’s affect the politics and economy of the countries they help and how their involvement affects culture, traditions, and society of people at the bottom, whom these organizations claim to help. I will look at the approach and policies of the organizations, the role of foreign policy and bureaucracy, and the roles of host governments and their bureaucracies. Also will include suggestions for alternatives, as well as looking at what the people want vs. what organizations are doing/giving (and maybe ways to solve fundamental issues at the bottom).

I chose to work on my topic because I’m interested in figuring out how to help people at the bottom. It’s amazing to me that the WB and IMF and other organizations have poured billions of dollars into developing countries for decades and yet they have improved little or are perhaps worse off than before. Obviously there is something wrong with their approaches, it’s clear top-down approaches or trickle down effects aren’t successful nor do they solve the fundamental issues. I’m interested in how throwing money at these countries changes the dynamics of the economy, politics, culture and society as a whole and also how sending in ‘experts’ and groups to do the work affects culture, traditions, and society. This is the same for large NGO’s that claim grassroots approaches, yet also do little to change the fundamental problems at the bottom.

My strategy is very basic right now… I have checked out about 20 books at the library, which is just scraping the surface of books I’ve found that hopefully will be helpful and I’m trying to skim through at least 1 a day to see if they’ll be relevant. While reading through these books I plan on taking good notes and shaping my ideas more and then get started on some solid writing. I’m also particularly looking into the Zapatistas and their political movements and critiques of NGO’s and other outside organizations with the book Uprising of Hope, in hopes of having a more specific concrete example. Next I plan to print off the articles I’ve found through the databases and read through those as well.