Rethinking the World Bank

These years are unusual ones for the World Bank. In the course of just two years the global economic recession has more or less eradicated the hard-won achievements made in terms of poverty reduction over the preceding two decades. This in itself constitutes a major challenge for the World Bank in the coming years. But more fundamentally the impact of the global economic crisis on the poorest people in the world’s poorest countries raises some very uncomfortable questions for the World Bank.

• Should the commitment to a model of ‘development by openness and integration with the global economy’ be maintained?

• To what extent do the difficulties experienced by this model mean that the World Bank self-proclaimed status as a ‘knowledge bank’ is threatened?

• Can the World Bank’s governance structure be reformed to reflect the realities of a post-crisis international economic order?

• Will the World Bank be able to contribute to more efficient and effective development assistance in the future?

• Or will it gradually become marginalized, as regional development banks and bilateral aid agencies adopt a more diverse array of agendas?

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