PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

The problem of old age security and World Bank suggestions for pension system design emerged as a hot topic in the development community in the 1990s.1 After the fast ascension of the World Bank’s three-pillar pension reform model2 as the state of the art in the early 1990s, external criticism as well as experiences on the ground led the Bank to reformulate its position and suggest a five-pillar pension reform model in 2005. This chapter traces the origins of the Bank’s engagement in pension reform and the development of a three-pillar pension model, which was still rooted in the old Washington Consensus of fiscal discipline, reordering public expenditure priorities and securing property rights (see chapter 1). The chapter then traces the emergence of a global old age security policy norm that takes the steps of the norm circle into account (as outlined in chapter 1). In particular, criticism of the Bank’s suggestions and the subsequent reformulation of the three-pillar model within the Bank are discussed. This process of norm contestation through arguing and negotiation over the norm’s meaning and value contributes to its broader social acceptance and stabilization (Wiener 2009: 12). As demonstrated below, the policy norm of old age security is now in the stabilization phase: statutory pensions provided by, or regulated by, the state through multi-pillar pension systems have come to be taken for granted as a policy norm around the world regardless of a country’s level of development. The Bank’s shift to a less rigid five-pillar model is much more in tune with the holistic approach to development that includes pro-poor growth, equitable development and poverty alleviation. The chapter thus speaks to the three main points of this book: first, identifying the sources and mechanisms of policy change and norm creation in international organizations (IOs); second, tracing the different steps of norm strength and development through the norm circle; and third, relating the Bank’s pension policy norm to a broader, more holistic approach to development.