The World Bank and Municipal Adjustments in Senegal: Towards a New Institutional Framework

Abstract

This paper adresses the impact of the World Bank’s urban development projects on territorial governance in Africa. From the analysis of eight projects completed in Senegal between the 1960s and beyond 2006, the paper identifies the process through which the World Bank adapts systems of actors and local institutional environments to its philosophy of governance. The paper shows that this territorial strategy constitutes a process of municipal adjustment where the local actor contributes to a new focus on governance and where urban development is aligned with globalization.