Using Princeton philosopher Harry Frankfurt’s Bullshit Theory, a Critical Discourse Analysis of selected World Bank communications material, and interviews with communication specialists, this study examines the prevalence and causes of bullshit in the international development field as well as means to prevent the practice.

An understanding of these issues is important at a time when international development organizations face increasing scrutiny as well as calls for improved transparency and accountability. An overreliance on bullshit threatens sustained donor funding because it can make it difficult for donors—be they governments or philanthropic individuals—to assess the efficacy and credibility of the organizations they support.

To generate data, I adopted a mixed method quantitative and qualitative approach comprising two research elements: A Critical Discourse Analysis and coding exercise of five World Bank “success stories” and a series of interviews with communications practitioners in the international development field.

The findings from this study confirm that bullshit is indeed endemic and widespread in the international development field and that mechanisms to remedy the problem are few and far between.

A better understanding of the bullshit phenomenon, and of how and why international development organizations generate bullshit to misrepresent their programmatic outcomes can, it is hoped, make exponents of practice think twice before resorting to it.