The name is absent

The 1990s: reactions to the neo-liberal agenda, and the new consciousness of globalization
The stabilisation and adjustment policies of the 1980s were criticised from two perspectives -
for their failures with respect to poverty and for the simplistic economic (and political) model
that underlay them.

Concern with the rising poverty associated with the policies, was initiated in the mid-1980s
by UNICEF and rapidly gained support (Cornia, Jolly and Stewart, 1987). From 1987, the
World Bank's staff guidelines required Policy Framework Papers for low income countries to
include 'a brief description and assessment ... of the social impact of the government's
intended adjustment program'. The World Bank's concern with poverty became more central
with the 1990 World Development Report which focussed on poverty. Lewis Preston,
declared that 'poverty is the benchmark against which we must be judged'. In 1990
Camdessus, Managing Director of the IMF, acknowledged 'the recognition that
macroeconomic policies can have strong effects on the distribution of income and on social
equity and welfare. A responsible adjustment program must take these effects into account,
particularly as they impinge on the most vulnerable or disadvantaged groups in society'
(Speech to US Chamber of Commerce, March 26, 1990). Subsequently, each IMF country
Mission was required to report on the poverty implications of country programmes.

A similar concern was exhibited by UNDP which published the first Human Development
Report in 1990, focussing on the human dimensions of development. 'People are the real
wealth of a nation. The basic objective of development is to create an enabling environment
for people to live long, healthy and creative lives' (UNDP, 1990, p9). The quality of human
lives, both as the central objective of development and as a critical development resource, has
been a central theme of development thinking in the 1990s. The market model was also
criticised from an environmental perspective, since by its nature market motivation is

studies have been unable to find significant positive
effects in Africa.

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