Editing International Monetary Fund (section)

===Support of dictatorships===
The role of the [[Bretton Woods system|Bretton Woods institutions]] has been controversial since the late [[Cold War]], because of claims that the IMF policy makers supported [[military dictatorship]]s friendly to American and European corporations, but also other [[anti-communist]] and [[communist]] regimes, such as the [[Socialist Republic of Romania]]. An example of IMF's support for a dictatorship was its ongoing support for [[Mobutu]]'s rule in [[Zaire]], although its own envoy Erwin Blumenthal provided a sobering report about the entrenched corruption and embezzlement and the inability of the country to pay back any loans.<ref name="dvr">{{cite book |author=David van Reybrouck |title=Congo: The Epic History of a People |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2012 |page=374ff |isbn=978-0-06-220011-2 |title-link=Congo: The Epic History of a People |author-link=David van Reybrouck }}</ref> In 2021, the IMF approved a US$1 billion loan to the [[autocratic]] Uganda despite protests from Ugandans in Washington, London and South Africa.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2021/06/28/pr21197-uganda-imf-executive-board-approves-ecf-arrangement-for-uganda |title=IMF Executive Board Approves US billion ECF Arrangement for Uganda |website=IMF |access-date=29 June 2021 |archive-date=29 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629114647/https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2021/06/28/pr21197-uganda-imf-executive-board-approves-ecf-arrangement-for-uganda |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://diaspora.nup-uganda.com/?p=275 |title=IMF loan to Uganda should be cancelled – NUP Uganda Diaspora |date=9 June 2021 |access-date=29 June 2021 |archive-date=29 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629114650/https://diaspora.nup-uganda.com/?p=275 |url-status=live }}</ref> Critics also claim that the IMF is generally apathetic or hostile to democracy, human rights, and [[labour rights]]. The controversy has helped spark the [[anti-globalization movement]].

Arguments in favour of the IMF supporting dictatorships is the claim that [[economic stability]] is a precursor to democracy. A 2017 study found no evidence of IMF lending programs undermining democracy in borrowing countries,<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Nelson |first1=Stephen C. |last2=Wallace |first2=Geoffrey P.R. |date=1 December 2017 |title=Are IMF lending programs good or bad for democracy? |journal=The Review of International Organizations |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=523–558 |doi=10.1007/s11558-016-9250-3 |s2cid=85506864 |issn=1559-7431 }}</ref> it found "evidence for modest but definitively positive conditional differences in the democracy scores of participating and non-participating countries".<ref name=":0" />

A 2020 study found the reverse causality with [[democracy]] as a precursor to economic stability.<ref name="j902">{{cite journal |last=Knutsen |first=Carl Henrik |title=The Business Case for Democracy |journal=SSRN Electronic Journal |publisher=Elsevier BV |year=2020 |issn=1556-5068 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.3710437 |page= }}</ref> Critics highlight various examples in which democratised countries fell after receiving IMF loans.<ref name="cadtm">{{cite news |title=IMF support to dictatorships |publisher=World Bank |url=http://www.cadtm.org/spip.php?article809 |work=[[Committee for the Abolition of the Third World Debt]] |access-date=21 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012105817/http://www.cadtm.org/spip.php?article809 |archive-date=12 October 2007 }}</ref>

Party-based autocracies and democracies can face similar incentives when considering agreements with IMF, in contrast to personalist and military regimes.<ref name="q511">{{cite journal |last1=Fails |first1=Matthew D. |last2=Woo |first2=Byungwon |title=Unpacking Autocracy: Political Regimes and IMF Program Participation |journal=International Interactions |volume=41 |issue=1 |date=2015 |issn=0305-0629 |doi=10.1080/03050629.2015.969370 |pages=110–132 }}</ref>