Reframing knowledge: A comparison of OECD and World Bank discourse on public governance reform

Figures & data

Table 1. Type of change in international knowledge institutions: Mandate and organisational processes of knowledge production and validation as configurational factors.

	OECD	WB
Mandate	- To promote policies by providing a forum in which governments can work together by sharing experiences and seeking solutions to common problems. - To work with governments (that share commitment to market economies backed by democratic institutions) in order to understand what drives economic, social and environmental change. - To analyse and compare data in order to predict future trends and to set international policy standards.	- The WB Group has set two goals for the world to achieve by 2030: i) End extreme poverty by decreasing the percentage of people living on less than $1.90 a day to no more than 3%; ii) Promote shared prosperity by fostering the income growth of the bottom 40% for every country. - To support developing countries through policy advice, research and analysis, and technical assistance.
Processes of knowledge production	- Continued monitoring of events in member countries through regular projections of short and medium-term economic developments. - Data collection and analysis of member states’ compliance with recommendations. - Compliance is ensured through mutual examination, multilateral surveillance and a peer review process. - Publications are a prime vehicle for disseminating the OECD’s intellectual output.	- To sponsor, host, or participate in conferences and forums on issues of development, often in collaboration with external partners. - To help generate cutting-edge knowledge and to ensure that countries can access the best global expertise. - To assist developing countries in delivering measurable results (as required by the two institutional goals). - To improve the design of projects, the access to information and how to bring operations closer to governments and communities. - To provide free, easy-to-access research and knowledge tools for addressing the world’s development challenges.
Procedure of knowledge validation	- Production of knowledge with and through member states. - The OECD is mainly accountable to its member states and large civil society organisations. - The OECD seeks to set international best practice and standard through analysis and prediction of general trends among member states.	- To produce the best scientific knowledge to causally link public governance and economic. - The WB has a broader set of stakeholders such as the scientific communities as well as the general public. - The role of governments is neglected in the validation of knowledge that revolves performance measurement system (as required by the two quantitative institutional goals).
Mode of policy agenda change (Haas, 1990)	Change by adaptation	Change by learning
Preferred expert knowledge	New public management	Scientific (economic) knowledge

Haas, E. B. (1990). When knowledge is power: Three models of change in international organizations. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

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