In this exceptionally compelling account of the Third World's debt catastrophe, Patricia Adams analyzes the parts played by the different participants: among the lenders, the World Bank, the IMF, export credit agencies, and the commercial banks; and among the borrowers, not only governments and state enterprises, but also the military and above all greedy and despotic leaders.

The story is one of recklessness and corruption. In the face of it, Adams invokes the doctrine of odious debts— those debts contracted by a regime that are not binding for a nation— first used by the U.S. to repudiate Cuba's debts after it took Cuba from Spain. Together with changes in the international financial structure to prevent future catastrophes— among them the closing of institutions such as the World Bank, which have devastated the Third World's environment as thoroughly as they have its economy— Odious Debts: Loose Lending, Corruption and the Third World's Environmental Legacy offers a way of both resolving the debt crisis justly and furthering democracy and accountability in the Third World.

Read it online.

To order e-mail JerryWagner@nextcity.com ($24.95, 256 pages, hardcover and softcover available, 1991).  

Deudas Odiosas (Spanish version)

Utang Najis (Indonesian version)