International governmental organisations, or IGOs, are organisations made up of member states that work across national borders. In global development, key examples include the IMF, World Bank, WTO, UN and EU. The IMF provides loans and financial support to countries facing economic crises, but it has been criticised for attaching conditions that may lead to cuts in public spending. The World Bank funds development projects such as infrastructure, education and poverty reduction schemes, although critics argue that some projects increase debt or reflect Western priorities. The WTO promotes global trade rules and free trade, but dependency theorists argue that richer countries often benefit more from global trade than poorer countries. The UN works on peace, human rights, health, education, poverty and sustainability, but it can be limited by political disagreements between powerful states. The EU is a regional organisation that shapes trade, migration, regulation, aid and development policy, although sociologists debate whether it reduces inequality or protects the interests of richer member states and corporations.
This activity helps you revise the role of international governmental organisations in global development. You will click on the IMF, World Bank, WTO, UN and EU to reveal what each organisation does, how it may support development, and how sociologists might criticise it. This tests AO1 knowledge because you need to understand the role of each organisation, but it also builds AO3 evaluation because you will consider whether IGOs reduce poverty and support development, or whether they reproduce inequality through debt, trade rules, political power and neo-liberal policies. As you work through the activity, think about who benefits most from each organisation’s decisions: poorer countries, richer countries, TNCs, governments, or ordinary people.
IGO Power Map
Click each international governmental organisation to reveal what it does, how it may support development, and how sociologists evaluate its power.
Click an IGO
Revision summary: evaluating IGOs
- Modernisation and neo-liberal views may see IGOs as useful because they support investment, trade, stability, infrastructure and economic reform.
- Dependency theorists argue that IGOs can reproduce inequality by pushing poorer countries into debt, free trade and policies that benefit richer countries and TNCs.
- Globalisation theorists see IGOs as important because national governments do not act alone; they are shaped by international rules and institutions.
- AO3 evaluation should ask who has the most power inside an IGO, what conditions are attached to support, and whether ordinary people benefit from the policies.
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