This paper argues that the current financial crisis offers the best opportunity for progressive reform in international financial governance in many years. It cautions that developing countries and civil society will only be able to fully exploit this opportunity if they are well prepared and...

The operations of multilateral development banks (MDBs) can have both positive and negative environmental, social and human rights impacts. Since negative impacts can have profound and irreversible consequences, they should be avoided or mitigated. The MDBs also need to provide those adversely...

This chapter is the concluding chapter of a book that explores how lawyers and their state and non-state clients use international law to promote social change, with a particular focus on the choice between hard and soft international law approaches. The book contains a series of case studies...

This chapter is the introductory chapter in a book on how both state and non-state actors and their lawyers use hard and soft international law in advocating for social change. Both non-state and state actors understand that, sometimes working together and sometimes apart, they can use...

This Article considers whether the IFIs should play a role in the implementation and enforcement of international humanitarian law. It consists of 6 parts. Part I is a short introduction to the topic. Part II is a brief overview of the structure and functions of the IFIs. Part III describes the...

This paper's hypothesis is that the international standard setting bodies (SSBs) could improve the quality of their international standards by incorporating a human rights analysis. It focuses on five SSBs and seven of their international standards and its findings include the following: First,...

There is a need for the countries of Southern Africa to invest in building infrastructure, for which purpose they can be expected to utilise the services of multilateral development banks (MDBs). MDB-funded infrastructure projects often become arenas for debate over the roles and...

The World Bank';s Executive Directors voted to establish an independent Inspection Panel in September, 1993. This three member Panel is mandated to review complaints from any group of private persons alleging that they are suffering or expect to suffer material adverse effects from the failure...

It is a rare privilege for an academic who has specialized in international economic institutions to get a chance to put what he researched into practice. I had this privilege when I became the first head of the South African Reserve Bank's (SARB) new International Economic Relations and Policy...