[A moderate-toned Op-Ed submitted to the New York Times yesterday by Sanjay Reddy, a developmental economist]
A POOR CHOICE FOR THE WORLD'S POOR
The U.S. nomination of Paul Wolfowitz to head the World Bank is an insult to the world's poor. The US has traditionally been accorded the privilege of nominating the President of the World Bank, although in principle this nomination must be agreed to by other member countries. This privilege is rightly questioned, but is as yet unchanged. Although U.S. nominations for President of the World Bank have never been universally popular, they have often commanded at least grudging respect.
Why has the United States now nominated for the job a person who is ill qualified and sure to be deeply divisive? The professional staff of the World Bank are expected to engage in objective technical analysis. Even though they most often fall short of this goal, it is important that they aspire to it. Can the World Bank be led effectively by an individual who has demonstrated his utter disregard for such efforts at objectivity? The central role of Mr. Wolfowitz in the rush to war in Iraq, and his effort to suppress relevant intelligence about the absence of weapons of mass destruction are now well-documented. Needless to say, the subsequent failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has deeply discredited him.
Mr. Wolfowitz has rarely commented on economic questions, but was a central architect of major policies established in Iraq under U.S. occupation. We have reason to infer from the "free market fundamentalist" policies applied by the United States in Iraq that Mr. Wolfowitz, who has almost no experience or training in economic policy, believes that the key to development is an environment in which there are almost no tariffs and taxes, combined with a highly restricted government role (standards by which the United States would appear to be a Soviet style planned economy). If this is indeed Mr. Wolfowitz' s view, it will cause deep concern among member countries of the World Bank who do not share it.
The World Bank has tried hard, under its current president Jim Wolfensohn, to shed its image of seeking the liberalization of markets without regard for other prerequisites of development, including investment in health, education, and public institutions. It has also tried hard to shed its image of being an inattentive, unilateralist and even coercive institution, cultivating an image instead of being widely consultative and participatory. Whatever the truth in this regard, the appointment of Paul Wolfowitz as president of the World Bank will do enormous damage to hard-won improvements in its reputation. Both in academics and in government, Paul Wolfowitz has been a relentless exponent of the U.S. national interest. This is the wrong preparation for the presidency of the World Bank, an institution which is expected to further the collective interest of its member countries and of the world's poor.
The World Bank needs and deserves a president who is genuinely committed to the interests of the world's poor, who values facts and analysis, and who has the practical experience to command widespread respect. The World Bank's slogan is "Our dream is a world free of poverty". The United States should act as if it believes it.
Sanjay G. Reddy Assistant Professor Dept. of Economics Barnard College, Columbia University
and
Laurance S. Rockefeller Visiting Fellow University Center for Human Values Princeton University