As a response to recent protests about the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization, Northwestern students brought the debate home Tuesday.

Several activist and business organizations sponsored a debate Tuesday on the larger issues of globalization for an audience of about 60 students in Harris Hall.

Despite recent media attention paid to anti-globalization protesters, a team of NU students said the WTO, IMF and World Bank operate effectively with their limited resources.

“The complaints people have are very valid, but they are not valid in the context of the limited resources that these organizations can bring to bear,” said Don Monson, a member of the team that defended the organizations.

Monson’s teammates said the organizations intend to work in Third World countries’ best interest, trying to make them more accountable to their citizens and to lenders.

“The organizations are actively trying to increase prosperity, human rights and living standards worldwide,” said David Zhao, a Weinberg junior.

But other students said the organizations are unable to help the long-term growth and recovery from economic crises of poverty-stricken countries.

“(These organizations) are operating within a system that’s preventing them from achieving those goals (of economic recovery),” said Jason Pielemeier, a member of the Progressive Alliance.

Zhao said the growth of these countries is impaired because corrupt officials misuse funds from the organizations and don’t implement effective policies, not because the organizations themselves impede economic recovery. He said the organizations also assume that the “government is looking out for the best interests of that country.”

But the organizations’ specific programs — required for countries to receive loan money — often are cumbersome and ineffective, Weinberg senior Debayani Kar said.

“These programs are blindly applied to every country,” Kar said.

She urged reform of the organizations because they do not tailor their method of aiding countries to different economic crisises.

And those policies often inflict environmental damages on developing countries, said Neel Ahuja, another member of the Progressive Alliance.

But it’s difficult for Third World countries to address environmental concerns until the rest of their economy is stable, Monson said.

Some students said they thought that the opposing sides didn’t respond to each other and didn’t come to an agreement about possible solutions to the problems facing the organizations.

“You’re dealing with a world of both types of people,” said David Schneider, a Weinberg and McCormick junior. “So you need a solution that implements both views.”

Others said they were glad that the debate addressed the structural problems facing the organizations.

“People realize these three institutions are acting within a framework that is fundamentally flawed,” said Njogu Morgan, a Weinberg senior.