| THE WORLD'S BANKER A Story of Failed States, Financial Crises, and the Wealth and Poverty of Nations Sebastian Mallaby New York: The Penguin Press, 2004 |
Rating: 5.0 High |
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| ISBN-13 978-1-59420-023-6 | ||||
| ISBN-10 1-59420-023-8 | 462pp. | HC | $29.95 | |
This is a complicated book about a complicated institution run by a complicated man. In its early chapters, it interweaves the life story of that man with the history of the institution. Wolfensohn's life is impressive, the history of the World Bank less so, as internal shortcomings and external detractors combined to make it an overcautious and hidebound bureaucracy. But the time when the two threads first came together was magical: the impatient visionary cut through a decade of defensive and counterproductive process to revitalize the sense of mission among the Bank's staffers and lead it to its finest hour in Bosnia. His presidency was noteworthy for a reorganization that moved regional project directors closer to the field and cut down on approval times, and for breaking the taboo on debt relief. But it was marred by mistakes: His personality1 led him to overinflate his own achievements and minimize or ignore the achievements of others, including the genuine achievements of his predecessors at the Bank's helm. In addition, his angry outbursts frequently alienated colleagues, and drove some valuable people out of the organization. The author describes his motivation this way:
James David Wolfensohn has many faults, as we shall presently discover. But one of his great merits must be proclaimed up front: He actually wanted to be the World Bank's president. He didn't want this coyly or bashfully or in a covert, grown-up kind of way. He desired it with a 10-million-volt passion, with the same supercharged, bulldozing lust2 that had made him an Olympic sportsman, a Wall Street titan, and an accomplished cellist. – Page 41 |
But many of the setbacks that befell the Bank during Wolfensohn's ten-year term3 were not his fault. Despite its name, the World Bank is not really a bank in any conventional sense. It is rather an institution charged with the humanitarian mission of lifting the world out of poverty — a mission which exposes it to risks no ordinary banker would dream of accepting. In addition, its operating rules expose it, in bi-weekly board meetings, to demands from its directors, who represent "merely" the 24 nations that underwrote its creation: essentially all of what is sometimes called the "first world", that is, the nations that have already made the leap out of poverty and backwardness.
Then there is the political influence of a host of NGOs (non-governmental organizations), many of whom possess a talent for street theater all out of proportion to their grasp of the realities of the development projects they denigrate. One of Wolfensohn's triumphs was to forge working partnerships between the Bank and NGOs generally; but many projects would have gone far more smoothly if he had been more selective about the NGOs he chose as partners. If NGOs represent the left wing of the political proscenium, criticism from the right was equally troublesome to James Wolfensohn. This centered on his financial management of the Bank.
Mallaby, himself a journalist specializing in development issues, is uniquely qualified to undertake an assessment of the World Bank's operation. The scholarship work he put into this book testifies to the thoroughness of his research. He ultimately judges Wolfensohn a success as World Bank president, and lists his numerous triumphs in that role. But he never spares his criticism of the charismatic and temperamental executive. Because it is such a well-researched and balanced treatment of its subject, and because it analyzes the larger forces and factors that interact to determine the outcomes of World Bank efforts, this book is both fascinating and informative. Its main defect (and this is arguable) may be the author's tendency to put too much weight on the seesawing balance of contending influences.4 Many end-notes document sources, and often provide extra insight into the events described; it is not too much to say they will repay reading in and of themselves. A very good index allows the reader to track down any of the multitude of individuals mentioned, making the book useful as a reference. I could wish for a bibliography, but worthwhile titles can be gleaned from the notes with only a little more effort. All in all, this is a worthy contribution to the political history of our times.
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