“I know of no other book which examines full-on the impact of Washington politics—and especially the unique split between executive branch and legislative branch in the American polity—on the functioning of a multilateral organization. Sarah Babb has delved deeply into archival sources and supplemented them with more academic literature and some interviews. The result is a well-written book, accessible to a wide readership and not just to students and scholars.”

Robert H. Wade, London School of Economics

“In an era dominated by a world banking crisis and calls for transparency in government, Sarah Babb has opened the black box of ‘donor politics’: how international financial institutions are controlled by shareholder governments. Amassing solid evidence from myriad sources, she shows how Washington politics have shaped U.S. policies, which lead multilateral banks to tie loans to policy, in turn setting off debates among development experts. A brilliant sociology of political and policy history, the dark side of organizations, and global economic development.”

Diane Vaughan, Columbia University

"An excellent book about the linkage between US domestic politics and the performance of these institutions. Babb shows how the shifts in the power of right- or left-wing blocs in Congress tie various policy strictures to the funds that are approved. . . . Thus the development banks are obligated to fold into their mandates aspects of strategic, economc, and humanitarian rationales that are of current concern in Washington."

Choice