How they work
The World Bank
The World Bank is a group of four banks: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (which most call the "World Bank"), which offers loans for infrastructure-building and other "social" projects (such as dams); the International Development Association, which offers concessional ("soft") loans to the poorest nations; the International Finance Corporation, which helps finance private sector investment; and the Multilateral Insurance Guarantee Agency, which underwrites private investment for "political risks" associated with business in a Third World country (like uppity locals seizing property).
The World Bank group's loans to Third World countries are dependent on acceptance of "structural adjustment packages", which generally require cuts to government social spending, privatisation, increased exports and the opening up of the economy to Western trade and investment. Oddly, such conditions are not attached to loans to Western private investors.
The World Bank is run according to one-dollar one-vote, preserving the dominance of the Bank's subscribers, the world's richest states, the US in particular, which ultimately run its policy.
The International Monetary Fund
While the World Bank funds "social" investment, the International Monetary Fund's mission is to ensure financial "stability" by extending loans to impoverished countries to stabilise currencies and meet other debt repayments.
The sums lent flow back into the coffers of the Western banks whose loans were threatened by the instability. The debtor countries, however, still have to repay the loans with interest and abide by whatever "conditionalities" the IMF imposes, which are much the same as structural adjustment plans.
The IMF is also controlled by the one-dollar one-vote formula.
The World Trade Organisation
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) was formed in 1995 as the culmination of GATT, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, a continual round of trade negotiations which began in 1947.
The WTO formulates agreements on all aspects of trade and "trade-related" matters — agriculture, trade in services, safety standards, investment rules, intellectual property rights — to promote "free trade". In reality, this translates as "whatever is in the interests of the transnational corporations and the imperialist countries".
The WTO's agreements are binding on all members. Any country which breaks the "free trade" rules — such as, for instance, banning toxins that another country wants to sell it — is subject to severe economic sanctions (unless that country is the US, in which case no penalty applies).
In contrast to the IMF and World Bank, the WTO operates on a one-country, one-vote basis. However, it has not had a vote since 1959, operating according to "consensus" (which means that the US and Europe twist arms in corridors and private "green room" negotiations until they get what they want).