| B.) Perception that World Bank funding is independent of US funding is vital to its legitimacy and ultimate effectiveness
Ngaire Woods, International Relations Fellow – University College, Oxford, 2k, The World Bank: Structure and Policies, eds. C. Gilbert & D. Vines, p. 135
Although the United States has a uniquely influential position within the Bank, it does not enjoy full control over the institution’s nature and activities. Indeed, if the United States had control over the organization or indeed was perceived to, the Bank would be of little use to the United States. As two scholars of international relations write: “powerful states structure such organizations to further their own interests but must do so in a way that induces weaker states to participate.” To be effective, the World Bank relies on the participation of most states in the world. Such participation, in turn, requires continued belief in the Bank’s “legitimacy”: the perception by its members that the agency not only has a particular technical expertise but also that it has a certain degree of independence, a genuinely international character and that it acts in a rule-based way rather than according to US discretionary judgments.
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