Democracy not the point. Assistant Pol-Sci Prof, Vikash Yadav links to worldbankpresident.org, before taking on the conventional wisdom that we need a more democratic presidential selection process.

Professor Yadav's argument in a nutshell: (i) the Bank is not meant to democratic; (ii) its main priority must be to maintain creditor confidence; (iii) this means keeping the US on board.

"The US is pretty timid in appointing its citizens to head other major international institutions that it bankrolls: the head of the UN is African, the head of the IMF is European, the head of the WTO is Asian, the head of the IAEA is Middle Eastern," he adds. "Thus, it seems reasonable to me that the head of the World Bank should be an American.

"The real challenge for the international financial institutions should not be focused on debating the skin color or gender of the figurehead-in-charge, but attempting to give developing countries a greater voice in the design of programs and allocation of available resources within the realistic constraints of power politics."

Yadav's tip for the job: Bill Clinton. "Hey, he's a long shot - but he's become awfully chummy with the Bushes and he really needs a job."

The professor's verdict on www.worldbankpresident.org? "Rather silly ..." but "... of some educational value".

David Steven ~ January 19, 2005

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