Robin Broad

Robin Broad "is Professor of international development at American University. She teaches courses on economic globalization & development as well as environment & development, with a focus on social, environmental, and economic accountability.

"Her most recent book (coauthored with her husband and frequent collaborator John Cavanagh) is Development Redefined: How the Market Met Its Match (Paradigm Publishers, 2009). Development Redefined follows the rise of the Washington Consensus and its failure as a model for economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable development. The book also chronicles the rise of the alter-globalization movement and the many voices that are calling for alternatives in an effort to redefine development.

"Dr. Broad is also the editor/author of Global Backlash: Citizen Initiatives for a Just World Economy (Rowman and Littlefield, 2002), which combines her analysis with 45 original documents to demonstrate that opponents to the current corporate-led, neoliberal globalization present viable, sophisticated alternatives. Her earliest book -- Development Debacle: The World Bank in the Philippines, co-authored with Walden Bello and others in 1982 -- was one of the first books to present an in-depth critique of World Bank lending. She is the author as well of the books Plundering Paradise: The Struggle for the Environment in the Philippines (coauthored with John Cavanagh) and Unequal Alliance: The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Philippines. Dr. Broad is widely published in academic and policy publications, including Foreign Policy, World Development, World Policy Journal, the New York Times, and the Washington Post.

"She has previously worked as an international economist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the U.S. Department of Treasury.

"Dr. Broad has received numerous grants and awards for her scholarship and teaching. These include grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Association of Asian Studies, and the Council on Foreign Relations. Her book Plundering Paradise was first runner-up for the 1993 Lionel Gelber Prize for best English-language book in international relations and was a finalist for the World Hunger Media Award for best book. American University’s “Fair Trade Student Association” was started by students who learned about “fair trade” in one of her graduate seminars.

"Dr. Broad has lived and worked in the Philippines. She received her MA. and PhD in development studies from Princeton University. Her undergraduate degree is from Williams College, where her two majors were economics and environmental studies. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Bank Information Center and RugMark." CV

She obtained her PHD at Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in 1983; and her Dissertation chair was Dr. Richard Falk.


 * International Advisory Council, International Labor Rights Fund
 * Council on Foreign Relations, Participant in Study Group on “Anti-Americanism” (2005).
 * Ford Foundation, Consultancy Grant (2003); “A Road-Map of the Washington Consensus ‘Break-Aways’: The Shifting Debate Over Development in Theory & Practice,” Report for the Ford Foundation, New York, New York, May 31, 2003.
 * Ford Foundation, Grant (2000-01);