The World's Banker review

Finished reading The World's Banker over the weekend. Good book on a dry subject -- the tenure of World Bank president James Wolfensohn. Author Sebastian Mallaby seems to take an even-handed approach toward's Wolfensohn, portraying him as egotistical and prone to alienating those around him, but also very much driven by a genuine concern for the world's poor.

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Beyond discussing Wolfensohn Mallaby also gives the reader a good feel for the workings of the World Bank. Based on what I read I am pessimistic about the World Bank playing any major role in promoting development in the third world. While it certainly does not lack for raw brainpower and its intentions are good too many of its decisions are driven by political considerations. Who gets promoted can be driven by their nationality as much as anything else. A country's relationship with donor countries to the World Bank can very much influence whether they get a loan.

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While Mallaby seems to think that with the right changes and leadership that the World Bank can be a real force for good I was left to conclude that the organization is fundamentally flawed. You simply can't expect it to have political inputs and neutral, rational outputs. The other conclusion I drew from the book is that too many NGOs are measure success by their ability to garner headlines and fundraise rather than actually helping anyone. Mallay's account of NGO opposition to development projects in Chad and China was infuriating.