This article proposes a model for understanding the appropriate role of intergovernmental organizations in the promotion of human rights, using the World Bank as an example. Most critiques of the Bank’s record on human rights fail because they implicitly treat the institution as a pseudo-governmental agency, with the authority to choose among competing social goals. It is more accurate and instructive to see it as similar to a large corporation, with clear but limited responsibilities to society. As such it is obligated to consider human rights only when they are directly impacted by projects. The article then examines the Bank’s human rights policies. Both in its direct policies and its emphasis on ‘governance’ reform, the institution is acting as we would expect from a corporation in the same situation. Its failures to live up to even its stated guidelines reinforce the need to understand its organizational nature.
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