Press Release - Tuesday, May 15, 2007

May 15, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Urgent Recommendation to World Bank and IMF Executive Directors on the Leadership Selection Reform at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund is backed by 170 signatures!

Contact: Jo Marie Griesgraber ♦ (202) 277-9390 ♦ jgriesgraber@new-rules.org

Colin Bradford ♦ (301) 580-9132 ♦ CBRADFORD@brookings.edu

Nancy Birdsall ♦ 202-416-0700 ♦ nbirdsall@cgdev.org

Edwin (Ted) Truman ♦ (202) 328-9000 ♦ TTruman@IIE.com

The leadership crisis at the World Bank is undermining not only the World Bank but potentially the International Monetary Fund. The world’s nations -- not least the United States – have a vital interest in promoting the goals and sound management of these international institutions.

Paul Wolfowitz’s problems at the World Bank stem in part from a widespread perception that he disproportionately represents U.S. interests rather than objectives that command a global consensus. The root cause of that perception is an informal convention, established in the 1940s, that the U.S. government designates the president of the World Bank while European governments designate the IMF’s managing director.

In today’s world, that outdated convention should be abandoned and replaced with selection procedures that reflect two key principles: transparency of process, and competence of prospective leadership without regard to national origin. With such selection procedures, the heads of the institutions would be seen as representing the international community as a whole, not a single country or region. If the outdated convention is not abandoned, the leadership crisis at the World Bank is unlikely to be fully resolved even if Paul Wolfowitz decides to resign.

We therefore call for timely adoption of reform of the selection procedures at both institutions. We recommend as an initial constructive step that European governments and the U.S. administration publicly state that the 1940s convention should be jettisoned and commit themselves now to reform selection procedures whenever new leadership choices have to be made for either the World Bank or the IMF.

Individuals have signed this letter in their personal capacities.

Institutions appear for professional identification only.

171 Signatures collected as of 1:30 pm May 15, 2007. Click here to view an update list of signatures

1. Nicholas Adamtey, Policy Analyst, Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), Accra, Ghana

2. Anselme Adegbidi, Professeur d'Economie, Directeur Laboratoire des Etudes sur les Performances Agricoles et la Pauvrete (LEPAP) Faculte des Sciences Agronomiques (FSA) Universite d'Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, Benin

3. Yoginder K. Alagh, Former Minister of Power, Planning and Science and Technology of India, Chairman, Institute of Rural Management, Anand, India

4. Martin Albrow, Visiting Fellow, Centre for the Study of Global Governance, London School of Economics, London, United Kingdom

5. Lorna Arblaster, Leeds, United Kingdom

6. Robert Armstrong, Development Economist, Prior positions held at Northwestern University, Williams College, Ford Foundation, and World Bank, Washington, DC, USA

7. Anders Aslund, Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics, Washington, DC, USA

8. Patrick Avato, Sustainable Development Network, World Bank, Washington, DC, USA

9. Jamie Baker, Coordinator, New Rules for Global Finance Coalition, Arlington, VA, USA

10. Manish Bapna, Executive Director, Bank Information Center, Washington, DC, USA

11. Bob Baulch, Ph.D, Fellow, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom

12. Emel Bayrak, Washington Correspondent, Aksam Daily Newspaper, Washington, DC, USA

13. G.S. Bhalla, Professor Emeritus, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

14. Nancy Birdsall, President, Center for Global Development, Washington, DC, USA

15. Amer Bisat, Rubicon Capital Advisors, New York, NY, USA

16. Patrick Bolton, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

17. Jack Boorman, Formerly Counsellor and Director of Policy Research Department, International Monetary Fund, FL, USA

18. Colin Bradford, Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, Washington, DC, USA

19. L. David Brown, Associate Director for International Programs, Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

20. Coralie Bryant, Washington, DC, USA

21. Ralph Bryant, Senior Fellow: Economic Studies, The Edward M. Bernstein Scholar, Brookings Institution, Washington, DC, USA

22. Ariel Buira, Former Director, G-24 Secretariat, Mexico

23. Beth Burrows, President/Director, Edmonds Institute, Washington, DC, USA

24. Sally Burrows, Independent Consultant, Italy

25. Daniele Calabrese, Communication Officer, Development Communication Division, World Bank, Washington, DC, USA

26. Frankin Canelos, CLAI, Ecuador

27. Julián Casal, Washington, DC, USA

28. Nessa Ní Chasaide, Coordinator, Debt and Development Coalition Ireland, Dublin, Ireland

29. Josaine Chin Aleong, Institute for Development Studies, Sussex University, Brighton, United Kingdom

30. Manuel Chiriboga, Investigador, Rimisp - Centro Latinoamericano para el Desarrollo Rural, Columnist El Universo, Quito, Equador

31. John Christensen, Director, Tax Justice Network International Secretariat, United Kingdom

32. John Clark, Lead Social Development Specialist, East Asia/Pacific Region, World Bank, Washington, DC, USA

33. Alex Cobham, Supernumerary Fellow in Economics, St Anne's College, Oxford Director, Economy Section, Oxford Council on Good Governance, United Kingdom

34. Hillary Cook, ID21, Institute for Development Studies, Sussex University, United Kingdom

35. Caesar B. Cororaton, Research Fellow, IFPRI - MTID, Washington, DC, USA

36. Issiaka Coulibaly, World Vision

37. Roy Culpeper, Ph.D, President and CEO, North-South Institute, Canada

38. Jane D'Arista, Financial Markets Center, Howardsville, VA

39. David DeFerranti, Brookings Institution, Washington, DC, USA

40. I.M. (Mac) Destler, Professor, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, College Park, USA

41. Kenneth J. Dillon, Spectrum Bioscience, Inc, Washington, DC, USA

42. Ghada Elhefnawy

43. David Ellerman, Visiting Scholar, University of California at Riverside, CA, USA

44. Kimberly Elliott, Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development and Peterson Institute for International Economics, Washington, DC, USA

45. Rev Séamus P. Finn OMI, Director, Justice, Peace & Integrity of Creation, Missionary Oblates, Washington, DC, USA

46. Tony Fleming, UNSG.org / GlobalMemo.org, College Park, MD, USA

47. Elaine Fuller Ph.D, Assistant Professor of Economics, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL, USA

48. Vicente García-Delgado, CIVICUS UN Representative, New York, NY, USA

49. Jennifer Geib

50. Anna Gelpern, Visiting Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics and Associate Professor of Law, Rutgers School of Law, Rutgers University Division of Global Affairs, Newark, NJ, USA

51. Angelo Gennari Ph.D, Vice President, CNEL (Italian national council of economy and labor), Italy

52. Morris Goldstein, Dennis Weatherstone Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics and former Deputy Director of Research, IMF, Washington, DC, USA

53. Carol Graham, Brookings Institution, Washington, DC, USA

54. Edward M. (Monty) Graham, Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics, Washington, DC, USA

55. Jo Marie Griesgraber, Ph.D, Executive Director, New Rules for Global Finance Coalition, Arlington, VA, USA

56. Stephany Griffith-Jones, Professorial Fellow, Institute for Development Studies, Sussex University, United Kingdom

57. Bernhard G. Gunter, Ph.D, President, Bangladesh Development Research Center (BDRC), Falls Church, VA, USA

58. Bruno Gurtner, Senior Economist, Alliance Sud, Bern, Switzerland

59. Prof. Lawrence Haddad, Director, Institute for Development Studies, Sussex University, United Kingdom

60. Budd L. Hall, PhD, Director, Office of Community-Based Research, University of Victoria, Victoria B.C, Canada

61. Maria Hamlin Zuniga, Managua Nicaragua

62. Michael Hammer, Executive Director, One World Trust, United Kingdom

63. Irfan Haque, South Voice, Washington, DC, USA

64. Gerry Helleiner, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

65. Hazel Henderson, St. Augustine, FL, USA

66. José A. Henríquez, El Salvador

67. James S. Henry, Esq, Managing Partner, Cooperating Attorney, NYCLU/ACLU, Sag Harbor Group, Inc, SagHarbor, NY, USA

68. Barry Herman, Visiting Senior Fellow, Graduate Program in International Affairs, New School, New York, NY, USA

69. Joanne Heslop, Institute for Development Studies, Sussex University, Brighton, United Kingdom

70. Nadia Johnson, Economic & Social Justice Program Coordinator, Women's Environment & Development Organization (WEDO), New York, NY, USA

71. Professor Sir Richard Jolly, Honorary Professor, Institute for Development Studies, Sussex Univeristy, Former Deputy Executive Director UNICEF 1982-95 and Special Adviser to the Administrator UNDP and Principal Coordinator of the Human Development Report, 1996-2000. United Kingdom

72. Daniel Kaeser, former Swiss Executive Director, International Monetary Fund, Switzerland

73. Miles Kahler, Rohr Professor of Pacific International Relations, Professor of Political Science, Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS), University of California, San Diego (UCSD), San Diego, CA, USA

74. Gaim Kebreab, Senior Advisor, Department for Development Policy, Norwegian Church Aid, Norway

75. Adil Khan, United Nations, New York, NY, USA

76. Homi Kharas, Visiting Fellow, Brookings Institution, Washington DC, USA

77. Tony Killick, Development Consultant and Senior Research Associate, Overseas Development Institute, United Kingdom

78. Robin A. King, Visiting Assistant Professor, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA

79. Ole Klammer, Denmark

80. Matti Kohonen, PhD Student, Department of Sociology, London School of Economics, United Kingdom

81. Lucy Komisar, Co-Chair, Tax Justice Network-USA, New York, NY, USA

82. Barbara Kotschwar, Peterson Institute for International Economics, Washington, DC, USA

83. Koueda Koung Jean, Global Village Cameroon, Yaounde, Cameroon

84. Jan Kregel, Levy Economics Institute, NY, USA

85. Shailendra Kumar, MA Governance, Institute for Development Studies, University of Sussex, University, Brighton, United Kingdom

86. Mark S. Langevin, Ph.D, National Organizer, Brazil Strategy Network, Washington, DC, USA & Brazil

87. Michele Larocque, Waterbury, CT, USA

88. Carina Larsfälten, Senior Project Manager, International Monetary Convention Project Global Institute for Partnership and Governance, World Economic Forum, Switzerland

89. Max Lawson, Oxfam International, United Kingdom

90. Helen Leake, Policy Advisor, Forest Peoples Programme, United Kingdom

91. Dennis Leech, Professor of Economics, University of Warwick, United Kingdom

92. David K. Leonard, Professorial Fellow, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom

93. Mark Lester, Central America Regional Co-Director, Center for Global Education, Augsburg College, Nicaragua

94. Johannes Linn, Executive Director, The Wolfensohn Center, Brookings Institution, Washington, DC, USA

95. Kattie Lussier, Institute for Development Studies, Sussex University, Canada and United Kingdom

96. Hayley MacGregor, Institute for Development Studies, Sussex University, United Kingdom

97. Oumar Makalou P.h.D, President and Director, Center of Study and Research for Democracy, Economic and Social Development, Bamako, Mali

98. ROZ Mandelcorn, Los Angeles, CA, USA

99. Catherine L. Mann P.h.D, Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics, Professor, International Economics and Finance, Brandeis University, Washington, DC, USA

100. Monica Mariana Martinez Cadena, MA student in Governance and Development, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, United Kingdom

101. Robert J. McIntyre Ph.D, Local Development in Transition, Harpswell, ME, USA

102. Warwick McKibbin, Brookings Institution, Washington, DC, USA

103. Marilyn D. McNabb, Lincoln, NE, USA

104. Audrey Miller, Regional Representative, Jubilee Debt Campaign, United Kingdom

105. Marcus Miller, University of Warwick, United Kingdom

106. Nuria Molina, Policy and Advocacy Officer, European Network on Debt and Development (EURODAD), Belgium

107. Mick Moore, Professorial Fellow, Institute for Development Studies, Sussex Univeristy, and Director, The Centre for the Future State, Brighton, United Kingdom

108. Caroline Moser, Brookings Institution, Washington, DC, USA

109. Theodore Mpatswenumugabo, Senior Economist, United Nations Development Programme, Niamey, Niger

110. Mustafa K. Mujeri, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, Dhaka, Bangladesh

111. Moise Mungala Tshimbu, Design, Monitoring & Evaluation /LEAP National Coordinator, Quality Ministry Department, World Vision, Democratic Republic of the Congo

112. Richard Murphy, Director, Tax Research LLP, Norfolk, United Kingdom

113. Barbara Negri Opper, former Senior Advisor, World Bank, Washington, DC, USA

114. Andy Norton, World Bank, Washington, DC, USA

115. Rachel Nugent, Ph.D., Senior Health Program Associate, Center for Global Development, Washington, DC, USA

116. Maureen O' Connell, Ireland

117. Chukwuma Obidegwu, World Bank, Washington, DC, USA

118. Mary O'Herron, Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Office, U.S. Province, Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Washington, DC, USA

119. Oduor Ong'wen, SEATINI, Kenya

120. Mead Over, Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development,

121. William Pace, Executive Director, World Federalist Movement – Institute for Global Policy, New York, NY, USA

122. Mario Pastore, Visiting Fellow, Department of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

123. Heikki Patomäki, Professor of International Relations, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland

124. Jacques J. Polak, past positions: Director Research Department; Economic Counsellor; Executive Director, International Monetary Fund, Washington, DC, USA

125. Jeff Powell, Bretton Woods Project UK, United Kingdom

126. Rev. Rocco Puopolo, Executive Director, Africa Faith and Justice Network (AFJN), Washington, DC, USA

127. Ana Quiros Viquez, CISAS, MANAGUA, NICARAGUA

128. Fraser Reilly-King, Halifax Initiative Coalition, Canada

129. Andrew Rice, United Nations Association of the National Capital Area (UNANCA), Washington, DC, USA

130. Shirley Rivens Smith, President, US Africa Sister Cities Foundation, Inc, Washington, DC, USA

131. Tom Roberts PhD, LINKS/LEAD Coordinator, World Vision, Sierra Leone

132. Trisha Rogers, Director, Jubilee Debt Campaign, United Kingdom

133. Robert Ross

134. Andy Rutherford, Head of International Partnerships, One World Action, United Kingdom

135. David Sandalow, Brookings Institution, Washington, DC, USA

136. Audrey Sasson, Master of International Affairs, Washington, DC, USA

137. Luc Savard, Directeur du GREDI, Professeur-adjoint, Département d'économique, Faculté d'administration, Université de Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada

138. Marjan Saz, Amsterdam, Holland, Netherlands

139. John W. Sewell, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC, USA

140. Cora Shaw, Washington, DC, USA

141. Cathy Shutt, United Kingdom

142. Jorge Soeiro, Economist, consultant, Maputo, Mozambique

143. Richard Sroczynski, Marianists International, New York, NY, USA

144. Filomeno S. Sta. Ana III, Coordinator, Action for Economic Reforms, Quezon City, Philippines

145. Agnes Sia Tamba, Network Movement for Justice and Development, Sierra Leone

146. Mohammad Osman Tariq, MA, Governance & Development, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom & Afghanistan

147. Amb James Teah Tarpeh, Ph.D, Germantown, MD, USA

148. George Thackray, United Kingdom

149. Andrew S. Thompson, Waterloo, Canada, Waterloo, Canada

150. James C. Titkemeyer, Economist, Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, DC, USA

151. Saúl Escobar Toledo, Mexico

152. Edwin (Ted) M. Truman, Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics, Washington, DC, USA

153. Happy James Tumwebaze, International Coordinator, International Network Secretariat, Sustainability Watch Network, Kampala, Uganda

154. Charles Uphaus, Bread for the World, Washington, DC, USA

155. Boudy van Schagen, Eldis - the gateway to development information, United Kingdom

156. Ellen Verheul, Team Manager Advocacy, WEMOS, Netherlands

157. Bernard Veuthey, Washington, DC, USA

158. Knud Voecking, Urgewald, Germany

159. Gisela Von Muhlenbrock, Silver Spring, MD, USA

160. Ebru Voyvoda, FEAS, Department of Economics, Middle East Technical University, METU, Ankara - TURKEY

161. Professor Robert H. Wade, Development Studies Institute (DESTIN), London School of Economics, United Kingdom

162. Chris Wangkay, Coordinator, People's Alliance for Debt Cancellation (GARPU), Jakarta, Indonesia

163. Michael Ward, Former Economist, World Bank, United Kingdom

164. David Wheeler, Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development, Washington, DC, USA

165. John Williamson, Peterson Institute for International Economics, Washington, DC, USA

166. John Willoughby, Department of Economics, American University, Washington, DC, USA

167. Emilie Wilson, Brighton, United Kingdom

168. Heather Worley, World Bank, Washington, DC, USA

169. Josep Xercavins i Valls, UBUNTU Forum Secretariat, Spain

170. Yongmei Zhou, Senior Economist, World Bank, Washington, DC, USA

171. Elaine Zuckerman, President, Gender Action, Washington, DC, USA

The May 14 letter on "Leadership Selection Reform at the World Bank and IMF" was drafted by Colin Bradford (Brookings), Ralph Bryant (Brookings) and Ted Truman (Peterson Institute for International Economics) acting in their personal capacities. They were aided by Nancy Birdsall (Center for Global Development), Jo Marie Griesgraber (New Rules for Global Finance Coalition and John Williamson (Peterson Institute for International Economics) in finalizing and distributing the document. Their thanks go especially to Jamie Baker (New Rules for Global Finance Coalition) who collected and organized the signatures and conveyed the letter to the Executive Directors and Alternates of the World Bank and IMF on behalf of all the signatories.


Leadership Selection Reform at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund