Woicke weighs in. Peter Woicke, the German who recently finished his stint as head of World Bank Group private sector arm the IFC, has contributed to the debate about Wolfowitz. Writing in the Financial Times, Woicke comments that the issue is not how much Wolfowitz might politicise the Bank. Instead he says it is whether the World Bank will continue its shift from "an organisation that viewed its role in terms of patronising, top-down prescriptions for governments, to an innovative, dynamic one that works collaboratively with a variety of partners in developing nations".

On the circumstances surrounding the nomination, Woicke is crystal clear. He writes: "you would be hard-pressed to find anyone in the international development community to defend the current process for selecting a new president of the World Bank Group. It is widely denounced as a highly politicised insiders' game that is decided by a few telephone calls from the White House to European capitals".

On an optimistic note he joins those who believe that the current fuss means that the system "is likely to change in the future".

The debate about Wolfowitz and his track record is hotting up on our web forum. Feel free to join in.

Alex Wilks ~ March 18, 2005

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