Saturday 14 April 2007
Paul Wolfowitz's credibility at the head of the World Bank is now too damaged for him to remain. He must resign, and if he refuses, the board of directors must replace him. It is traditional for the United States to name a North American to the World Bank presidency, while the director generalship of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) goes to a European. But the Europeans, who hold 32% of the Bank's capital versus the Americans' 16%, have the weapons to act.
Paul Wolfowitz is one of the neoconservatives who arrived in power in Washington as part of Bush's baggage train. Number two at the Pentagon, he was one of the most influential of the president's advisers in favor of the war in Iraq. In 2005, Mr. Bush named him to the leadership of the World Bank, a surprising decision given that Mr. Wolfowitz was better known as a specialist in military strategy than as an expert in third-world economic development, the reason this institution was created in 1945.
At the Bank over the last two years, Mr. Wolfowitz has not secured a good reputation for himself. He is accused of surrounding himself with an intimate guard of personalities who are close to him intellectually, but who have come from outside the Bank. He is censured for solitary and rigid behavior. His efforts to focus the Bank's policy too exclusively on Africa and an anti-corruption campaign have been criticized.
It's that last demand that backfires against Mr. Wolfowitz today. Upon his arrival in 2005, he demanded that his companion, who worked in the Bank's Middle East department, be moved to avoid any conflict of interest. The principle was good. But the execution was not, for Mr. Wolfowitz subsequently and high-handedly dictated the conditions of his companion's transfer to the State Department and the amount of the raise with which she was gratified on the way. He says that he had advised his board, but the latter has indicated that he never discussed it with them.
Today Mr. Wolfowitz is isolated, with the exception of Mr. Bush, who maintains his "confidence" in him. The employees' association demands that he resign. French Minister Thierry Breton deems that the Bank must have "irreproachable governance." The Brazilian minister wonders whether Mr. Wolfowitz can maintain the "moral authority" required to direct this institution.
The answer is no. Some criticisms leveled at the Pentagon's former number two are misplaced. The fight against corruption must remain one of the Bank's priorities because corruption ruins many countries' development. But it's precisely for that reason that Mr. Wolfowitz must leave. He has lost the credibility necessary for the mission he claims.
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