The World's Banker

A Story of Failed States, Financial Crises, and the Wealth and Poverty of Nations

Bibliographic Data

ID9820872
AuthorsRichard N Cooper (corresponding author)
Year2005
Volume84
Issue1
Pages181
Publication date2005-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeREVIEW
Review ofThe World's Banker: A Story of Failed States, Financial Crises, and the Wealth and Poverty of Nations (Council on Foreign Relations Books (Penguin Press)), Sebastian Mallaby, 2004
VenueForeign Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0015-7120 • E-ISSN: 2327-7793
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/20034225
OpenAlexW1866491552
LanguageEN

Appointed president of the World Bank in 1995, James Wolfensohn struck it like a whirlwind, determined to reinvent the institution founded by Franklin Roosevelt and his world War II allies. Wolfensohn embraced debt relief for the poorest countries, put taboo subjects such as corruption on the development agenda, and faced off the riotous critics of the antiglobalization movement. Never has the World's Bank been more important, more in the public eye, or more controversial than during his tenure, when challenges from global financial crises to AIDS to the emergence of terrorist sanctuaries in failed states have threatened global security. Sebastian Mallaby's vivid account shows what it was like to reconstruct Bosnia, to combat corruption and currency collapse in Indonesia, to fight AIDS in India, to pull one in five Ugandans out of poverty. But behind the absorbing narrative lies a critical question. In the next quarter of a century the world's population will increase from 6 to 8 billion. The World Bank is the leading mechanism for dealing with the consequences. Is it equal to the challenge

Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Financial system · Political science · Poverty · Global Financial Crisis and Policies · International Development and Aid

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