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The World's Banker: A Story of Failed States, Financial Crises, and the Wealth and Poverty of Nations
Never has the World Bank's relief work been more important than in the last nine years, when crises as huge as AIDS and the emergence of terrorist sanctuaries have threatened the prosperity of billions. This journalistic masterpiece by Washington Post columnist Sebastian Mallaby charts those controversial years at the Bank under the leadership of James Wolfensohn—the unstoppable power broker whose daring efforts to enlarge the planet's wealth in an age of globalization and terror were matched only by the force of his polarizing personality. Based on unprecedented access to its subject, this captivating tour through the messy reality of global development is that rare triumph—an emblematic story through which a gifted author has channeled the spirit of the age.
This edition features a new afterword by the author that analyzes the appointment of Paul Wolfowitz as Wolfensohn's successor at the World bank
This edition features a new afterword by the author that analyzes the appointment of Paul Wolfowitz as Wolfensohn's successor at the World bank
496 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2004
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860 people want to read
About the author
Sebastian Mallaby
18 books265 followersA Washington Post columnist since 1999. Worked for The Economist from 1986 - 1999.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
April 15, 2023
The World's Banker is almost 20 years old, yet could almost be contemporary. It would seem the Bank and the wider development sector are still grappling with the same dilemmas they were during the 1990-2003 period this book predominantly covered.
Whether it's how, and if, we should try and emulate the private sector, What to do about rising debt in the global south, or how to localise decision-making. The issues of yesterday are the issues of today. Because of this, despite its publication date, I would recommend this book to any development professional to help understand that the cries for World Bank reform are as old as the World Bank itself. To understand how we can change a system for the better we need to first understand where and why others have failed.
As for the subject of the book, James Wolfensohn, the author largely allows the reader to form their own opinion on whether he was a net positive or negative for the sector, but like so many development projects, without a counterfactual the answer is not always clear cut.
Whether it's how, and if, we should try and emulate the private sector, What to do about rising debt in the global south, or how to localise decision-making. The issues of yesterday are the issues of today. Because of this, despite its publication date, I would recommend this book to any development professional to help understand that the cries for World Bank reform are as old as the World Bank itself. To understand how we can change a system for the better we need to first understand where and why others have failed.
As for the subject of the book, James Wolfensohn, the author largely allows the reader to form their own opinion on whether he was a net positive or negative for the sector, but like so many development projects, without a counterfactual the answer is not always clear cut.
December 26, 2022
A nice book to understand the World Bank, despite many flaws. It is centered on the presidency of Wolfensohn (from 1995-2005) one of the institution’s most important leaders. Interesting account of HIPC/MDRI debt relief program, slow response to AIDS, the Chad pipeline project, Uganda’s reforms in the 90s, debates around local impact of infrastructure projects, etc.
The book draws on extensive background interviews with leadership within WB at the time.
But I felt the book is author is enamored with the former president to the point of it affecting his supposedly neutral account. The book also is superficial in its treatment/ annoyingly dismissive of external critiques of the WB, whether this is by developing country government, northern anti-globalization NGOs, developing country NGOs, major shareholders, etc. Also the book gives in my mind too much agency to individual actors and not enough to shifting consensus/ fads in policy circles at the time.
The book draws on extensive background interviews with leadership within WB at the time.
But I felt the book is author is enamored with the former president to the point of it affecting his supposedly neutral account. The book also is superficial in its treatment/ annoyingly dismissive of external critiques of the WB, whether this is by developing country government, northern anti-globalization NGOs, developing country NGOs, major shareholders, etc. Also the book gives in my mind too much agency to individual actors and not enough to shifting consensus/ fads in policy circles at the time.
December 17, 2016
The World Bank is the largest institution on the planet whose sole purpose is to rid the world of poverty. It is a multilateral institution, filled with red tape, and must try to meet the demands of it's rich-country shareholders (the US, UK, France, ect.), international NGOs (the "berkeley mafia" as Mallaby calls them), and then of course, there are their client countries--- the poorest countries in the world, for whom the World Bank is one of the few ways that these governments can finance development projects to try to get economies moving that have been stagnant for decades, leaving billions in poverty.
This book is essentially a dual biography. It tells the story of the World Bank and one of its most fiery presidents, Jim Wolfensohn. Wolfensohn presided over the Bank during an important 10 year period from 1995 to 2005, a period in which the Bank made many important changes, ranging from decentralizing management, to talking openly about corruption in developing countries.
I recommend this enlightening book to anyone interested in international economic development.
This book is essentially a dual biography. It tells the story of the World Bank and one of its most fiery presidents, Jim Wolfensohn. Wolfensohn presided over the Bank during an important 10 year period from 1995 to 2005, a period in which the Bank made many important changes, ranging from decentralizing management, to talking openly about corruption in developing countries.
I recommend this enlightening book to anyone interested in international economic development.
September 9, 2021
A story of World Bank, from his conception at at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference till its first decade of 2000. The most of the story covers one of its presidents: James Wolfensohn, who served two five-year terms between 1995 and 2005. It describes Wolfensohn's networking skills and his support by an earlier president of World Bank - Robert McNamara, the former Secretary of State under Kennedy and Johnston. His support during Wolfensohn's campaign to get the job was critical in getting the nomination from president Obama. It campaign to be nominated by the president Clinton. The book describes Wolfensohn's campaign to get rid of corruption among the countries receiving the help. His efforts to champion the bank's role to assist the poor earned him recognition among many NGO organisations. During this time, the World Bank became one of the largest funders of global primary education and health programs including HIV/AIDS programs. He also advanced debt release programs for many Africa and Latin American nations. His third term has not happened due to president Bush deciding to appoint his former Deputy Secretary of Defence and an architect of Iraq's invasion - Paul Wolfowitz.
As a reader I found this book a mixed bag. A lot of information about the World Bank is quite interesting, however some minor events discussed there are sometimes related in such a boring manner, at least from my perspective, that an amount of perseverance is required to finish the book.
As a reader I found this book a mixed bag. A lot of information about the World Bank is quite interesting, however some minor events discussed there are sometimes related in such a boring manner, at least from my perspective, that an amount of perseverance is required to finish the book.
March 10, 2018
A very engaging read! The author has crafted a great story-line, weaving James W’s character into the Bank’s history especially during his tenure as president. It brought the institution to life in this book. The huge challenges of multiple accountabilities- to shareholders, client governments, civil society beneficiaries- come out vividly. Is the Bank ungovernable in its current form? No easy answers there. But the heroes to my mind are many of the dedicated and committed development staff at the Bank.
The book gives a vivid picture of the innovations attempted in various countries (e.g. Indonesia, Bosnia), yet which could not be replicated globally. Once you read the book you could understand why. No cookie cutter works everywhere!
Having worked there for 10 years, only after reading this book I can understand better why sometimes policy making seemed so conflicting inside. Wish I had read this book when I was there...!
The book gives a vivid picture of the innovations attempted in various countries (e.g. Indonesia, Bosnia), yet which could not be replicated globally. Once you read the book you could understand why. No cookie cutter works everywhere!
Having worked there for 10 years, only after reading this book I can understand better why sometimes policy making seemed so conflicting inside. Wish I had read this book when I was there...!
September 9, 2022
In the final chapter and postscript, Mallaby asks whether he likes the subject of his autobiography and I remembered that this was actually a book about Wolfenshon (the president), not the World Bank.
I can't help but feel Mallaby didn't actually care all that much about Wolfensohn. The first chapter paints him as an insecure people pleaser with a bulging rolodox, an inability to deal with criticism, and huge success in facilitating deals. I was ready to put the book down at this point.
After setting up the Wolfensohn preliminaries, Mallaby begins on a political/narrative history of international development from roughly the 1980s to the Iraq invasion. The early years of the Bank saw it offering financing and technical expertise to facilitate infrastructure projects in places like Brazil, India and China. This provided a steady stream of income. But the bank's portfolio also had bad loans to corrupt autocratic states. These had to be bailed out by further loans with conditionality attached in the form of Structural Adjustment, roughly the Washington Consensus. Many of these loans had a geopolitical dimension, propping up anti-Communist regimes.
Over time, a swell of development thinkers and NGOs began to oppose the World Bank's approach, crstyalising in the Fifty Years is Enough movement. Wolfensohn arrives at this point and sets about negotiating a new approach that placates the emboldened NGO-types and also aspects of development thinking beyond dams and bridges, such as human and social capital.
He does so by embracing the NGO criticisms and backing debt forgiveness, somehow convincing the IMF to follow suit, and by creating "safeguards" around climate protections, protecting indigenous communities and so on. He also evicts country directors from Washington, partly enabled by IT that he pushes hard to adopt. The Bank tries to push against "silver bullets" and embrace a comprehensive approach, which Wolfensohn writes up in his own Comprehensive Strategy that everyone sees as plagiarism. He goes further and embraces the idea that loan recipients should define their own development agendas. If this was written in 2020s, Wolfensohn would have been said to adopt a "woke" approach to development.
Mallaby's final chapters are perhaps the most interesting because we learn the costs of doing so. NGOs from the global North push a load of fringe concerns that increase the barriers to developing countries addressing basics. As Mellaby tells it, the Qinhai dam project is derailed by Tibet protestors even though its neither in Tibet and the Tibetans could've benefited. The developing countries who underpin the Bank's finances via genuinely commercially viable projects (e.g. China, Brazil, India etc) begin to just go for private finance given it includes much less NGO conditionality. This means the Bank veers towards being another UN agency dependent on rich country donations and thereby bound to their shifting political agendas. It sounds like this trend reversed a bit after 2002 or so.
I don't know, there's a lot more to the book. Mallaby picks out some great characters and uses them to illustrate wider trends in development thinking. The book made me want to read more on development, a topic I used to follow much more closely.
I can't help but feel Mallaby didn't actually care all that much about Wolfensohn. The first chapter paints him as an insecure people pleaser with a bulging rolodox, an inability to deal with criticism, and huge success in facilitating deals. I was ready to put the book down at this point.
After setting up the Wolfensohn preliminaries, Mallaby begins on a political/narrative history of international development from roughly the 1980s to the Iraq invasion. The early years of the Bank saw it offering financing and technical expertise to facilitate infrastructure projects in places like Brazil, India and China. This provided a steady stream of income. But the bank's portfolio also had bad loans to corrupt autocratic states. These had to be bailed out by further loans with conditionality attached in the form of Structural Adjustment, roughly the Washington Consensus. Many of these loans had a geopolitical dimension, propping up anti-Communist regimes.
Over time, a swell of development thinkers and NGOs began to oppose the World Bank's approach, crstyalising in the Fifty Years is Enough movement. Wolfensohn arrives at this point and sets about negotiating a new approach that placates the emboldened NGO-types and also aspects of development thinking beyond dams and bridges, such as human and social capital.
He does so by embracing the NGO criticisms and backing debt forgiveness, somehow convincing the IMF to follow suit, and by creating "safeguards" around climate protections, protecting indigenous communities and so on. He also evicts country directors from Washington, partly enabled by IT that he pushes hard to adopt. The Bank tries to push against "silver bullets" and embrace a comprehensive approach, which Wolfensohn writes up in his own Comprehensive Strategy that everyone sees as plagiarism. He goes further and embraces the idea that loan recipients should define their own development agendas. If this was written in 2020s, Wolfensohn would have been said to adopt a "woke" approach to development.
Mallaby's final chapters are perhaps the most interesting because we learn the costs of doing so. NGOs from the global North push a load of fringe concerns that increase the barriers to developing countries addressing basics. As Mellaby tells it, the Qinhai dam project is derailed by Tibet protestors even though its neither in Tibet and the Tibetans could've benefited. The developing countries who underpin the Bank's finances via genuinely commercially viable projects (e.g. China, Brazil, India etc) begin to just go for private finance given it includes much less NGO conditionality. This means the Bank veers towards being another UN agency dependent on rich country donations and thereby bound to their shifting political agendas. It sounds like this trend reversed a bit after 2002 or so.
I don't know, there's a lot more to the book. Mallaby picks out some great characters and uses them to illustrate wider trends in development thinking. The book made me want to read more on development, a topic I used to follow much more closely.
April 7, 2020
A fantastic biography of Jim Wolfensohn, the frenetic former World Bank president who came into the institution at a time when its authority was weakening and its mission was staid and helped modify its mission and put the bank on better footing. Wolfensohn tackled social issues, debt forgiveness, corruption and environmental concerns while leading the bank. He went to battle with the skeptical former treasury secretary Paul O'Neill and managed to outflank him. There were still setbacks though and Wolfensohn's style did not do him any favors. His tactics and temperament wore thin with his deputies and the rank-and-file, he was erratic and impulsive, and not a great manager, but the author overall concludes that his tenure was net beneficial. The strength of Mallaby as a writer is his ability to tell the history of an institution through its leadership. He achieved this with his seminal work on former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan and he does it here too. Furthermore, Mallaby is an even-handed biographer; too many writers seem to either love-or-hate their subjects, but that is not at play here. If you like finance, international development or politics this is worth your time.
November 3, 2016
Absolutely great book. As someone who has worked for the World Bank, I thought this book brought out a lot of the characteristics of the organization, as well as providing insight on some of the most influential of its leaders. A must-read for anyone interested in global development or poverty.
April 10, 2018
Highly suggested read for development professionals and world bank aspirants
April 12, 2010
Timing is an important element in the publication success of a book. Here, the intention is twofold. On the one hand Mallaby reviews the ten-year trials and tribulations of the World Bank's outgoing president, Jim Wolfensohn. On the other, he aims to provide a critical overview of the broader world and historical context in which the World Bank has been operating since its beginnings 60 years ago. While the period prior to Wolfensohn is not accorded the same detail, it is nevertheless treated as an important background to understand the Wolfensohn era. The author concludes with a few recommendations for the incoming President.
As a biography of Jim Wolfensohn, the book is a success and a good read. It's full of personal stories, gossip and astute observations. Based on extensive interviews with Wolfensohn, other World Bankers and many friends and observers, the author reveals traits of the man that few would know outside the inner circle of friends and some of his business partners. He is ambitious and driven by his search for accomplishments and adoration, yet his visions are not necessarily backed up by clear strategies and implementation methods. He is a banker, not a development professional. He is also a philanthropist and a musician. Mallaby vividly paints the personality with all his strengths and weaknesses: the duality of a kind of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of development banking. His term at the Bank has resulted in many new ideas, some false starts, and some long-term successes, Mallaby contends. But the route to achieve those was difficult and often confrontational. It was frustrating him and draining on his management team and staff, not to speak of his board. In real terms, Wolfensohn shook up the World Bank system - with reason - and overall the Bank is a better place for it: it is more focused on poverty alleviation, works more closely with the borrowing countries and has managed to keep the rich lending governments, more or less, on side.
Biographers often take the side of their subject. Events and people are seen through a close-up lens and objectivity is of lesser importance. This is very much the case here. Mallaby's lens is not only focused on Wolfensohn and the World Bank, he uses a fish-eye lens where anything beyond the focus tends to get distorted or blurred. His bias shows strongly in his repeated, yet generalized, criticism of NGOs, his belittling of the UN Millennium Development Goals and of the UN agencies' capacity to deliver development programs. While it is understandable that details are omitted and development policies and case studies cannot be discussed in depth and breadth, judgemental statements that are not substantiated create uneasiness in the reader. For example, NGOs are criticized for not embracing the World Bank's new Water Strategy in 2002 without the author giving any indication of its substance or the reasons why NGOs did not want to buy into it. He laments that NGOs, or "No-Gos", don't have an "off-switch". "Participatory" consultations appear to be described as successful only when the groups consulted agree with the World Bank policy in the end. He almost feels sorry for Wolfensohn in his efforts to reach out to such groups. Finally, Mallaby's condescending comments on Joe Stiglitz reflect more than journalistic arrogance.
The question arises about the intended audience(s) for this book. People interested in fascinating, colourful personalities will find the person at the centre of this story worth their while. The development professionals, such as myself, will read with interest about the internal World Bank struggles during Wolfensohn's reign. They can easily balance the biases and fill in the source gaps from their own knowledge base. However, the general reader might be well advised to consult additional material on development strategies and country programs and accept this journalist/biographer's views with a pinch of salt.
As a biography of Jim Wolfensohn, the book is a success and a good read. It's full of personal stories, gossip and astute observations. Based on extensive interviews with Wolfensohn, other World Bankers and many friends and observers, the author reveals traits of the man that few would know outside the inner circle of friends and some of his business partners. He is ambitious and driven by his search for accomplishments and adoration, yet his visions are not necessarily backed up by clear strategies and implementation methods. He is a banker, not a development professional. He is also a philanthropist and a musician. Mallaby vividly paints the personality with all his strengths and weaknesses: the duality of a kind of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of development banking. His term at the Bank has resulted in many new ideas, some false starts, and some long-term successes, Mallaby contends. But the route to achieve those was difficult and often confrontational. It was frustrating him and draining on his management team and staff, not to speak of his board. In real terms, Wolfensohn shook up the World Bank system - with reason - and overall the Bank is a better place for it: it is more focused on poverty alleviation, works more closely with the borrowing countries and has managed to keep the rich lending governments, more or less, on side.
Biographers often take the side of their subject. Events and people are seen through a close-up lens and objectivity is of lesser importance. This is very much the case here. Mallaby's lens is not only focused on Wolfensohn and the World Bank, he uses a fish-eye lens where anything beyond the focus tends to get distorted or blurred. His bias shows strongly in his repeated, yet generalized, criticism of NGOs, his belittling of the UN Millennium Development Goals and of the UN agencies' capacity to deliver development programs. While it is understandable that details are omitted and development policies and case studies cannot be discussed in depth and breadth, judgemental statements that are not substantiated create uneasiness in the reader. For example, NGOs are criticized for not embracing the World Bank's new Water Strategy in 2002 without the author giving any indication of its substance or the reasons why NGOs did not want to buy into it. He laments that NGOs, or "No-Gos", don't have an "off-switch". "Participatory" consultations appear to be described as successful only when the groups consulted agree with the World Bank policy in the end. He almost feels sorry for Wolfensohn in his efforts to reach out to such groups. Finally, Mallaby's condescending comments on Joe Stiglitz reflect more than journalistic arrogance.
The question arises about the intended audience(s) for this book. People interested in fascinating, colourful personalities will find the person at the centre of this story worth their while. The development professionals, such as myself, will read with interest about the internal World Bank struggles during Wolfensohn's reign. They can easily balance the biases and fill in the source gaps from their own knowledge base. However, the general reader might be well advised to consult additional material on development strategies and country programs and accept this journalist/biographer's views with a pinch of salt.
February 2, 2015
Everyone, it seems, loves to hate the World Bank... I mean, who hasn't piled on at some point? The left hates its neoliberal structural reforms. The right hates its interference in capital markets. Congress hates its repeated appeals for grants funding. NGOs hate its environmental track record. Europeans hate its America-centric leadership. Bono hates the debt burdens it holds over poor African countries. Its own staff complains of the excessive red tape with which it is entangled. The list goes on and on, but you will notice one complainant notably absent from this group: client governments who borrow from the Bank to implement development projects in their countries. They don't seem to think the big bad wolf is so bad after all.
And why, you have to wonder, do so many people hate an organization whose declared mission is the elimination of poverty throughout the world? How can an organization working towards such a noble goal be so polarizing?
Sebastian Mallaby's book about the bank does a fair job of examining all these haters' claims, and presenting a balanced assessment of their merits. Focusing on the timeframe from 1995-2004, when Jim Wolfensohn was the Bank's president, the book looks at both the successes and failures that occurred under his leadership -- and there was no dearth of either.
I learned much from reading this, not the least of which were reasons to moderate my own anti-Bank stance. This isn't the same organization that pushed structural reforms, blithely decimated rainforests, felt it had no lessons to learn from anyone, and didn't care a whit for its borrowers' opinions on these matters. It is, on the other hand, the only agency in the world that pursues poverty eradication while maintaining some measure of independence from strictly political paymasters.
To be sure, the Bank gets it wrong some of the time, and will probably continue to do so as it grapples with such an impossibly complicated problem. But as long as it keeps trying and evolving and adjusting it programs, and as long as there are still over 2.8 BILLION people living on less than $2 per day, there is still a need for what the Bank does. There's also a need for informed criticism rather than reflexive opposition, and Mallaby's book is a good place to start in fostering that.
And why, you have to wonder, do so many people hate an organization whose declared mission is the elimination of poverty throughout the world? How can an organization working towards such a noble goal be so polarizing?
Sebastian Mallaby's book about the bank does a fair job of examining all these haters' claims, and presenting a balanced assessment of their merits. Focusing on the timeframe from 1995-2004, when Jim Wolfensohn was the Bank's president, the book looks at both the successes and failures that occurred under his leadership -- and there was no dearth of either.
I learned much from reading this, not the least of which were reasons to moderate my own anti-Bank stance. This isn't the same organization that pushed structural reforms, blithely decimated rainforests, felt it had no lessons to learn from anyone, and didn't care a whit for its borrowers' opinions on these matters. It is, on the other hand, the only agency in the world that pursues poverty eradication while maintaining some measure of independence from strictly political paymasters.
To be sure, the Bank gets it wrong some of the time, and will probably continue to do so as it grapples with such an impossibly complicated problem. But as long as it keeps trying and evolving and adjusting it programs, and as long as there are still over 2.8 BILLION people living on less than $2 per day, there is still a need for what the Bank does. There's also a need for informed criticism rather than reflexive opposition, and Mallaby's book is a good place to start in fostering that.
November 2, 2009
This is a strangely ridiculous book, which can only partially be blamed on the apparently ridiculous personality of its subject. Although ostensibly a biography of former World Bank president James Wolfensohn, the author Sebastian Mallaby attempts to synthesize the (not very substantial or substantive) biographical matter with "behind-the-scenes" recaps of representative World Bank projects, Wolfensohn's frequent bureaucratic tusslings with the Bank's international Board, and a lot of Mallaby writing about what he'll be writing about in two pages, or what he wrote about twenty, thirty, and forty pages ago.
When the author refers to his subject and his subject's state of mind every other page by the location of his vacation home, and Bill Clinton by variations of the phrase "the World Bank's main shareholder" Mallaby's carefully researched (or so he claims in his Acknowledgments section) revelations lose whatever insidery mystique they might have had because Mallaby's prose is just so frikking annoying. Mallaby writes with a contrived sense of urgency and excitedness that seems way out of proportion with his material.
Some Mallabyisms pulled from random:
When the author refers to his subject and his subject's state of mind every other page by the location of his vacation home, and Bill Clinton by variations of the phrase "the World Bank's main shareholder" Mallaby's carefully researched (or so he claims in his Acknowledgments section) revelations lose whatever insidery mystique they might have had because Mallaby's prose is just so frikking annoying. Mallaby writes with a contrived sense of urgency and excitedness that seems way out of proportion with his material.
Some Mallabyisms pulled from random:
"And yet his victory was fragile."
"On June 21, 2000, the Bank's management finally delivered a muted response to its tormentor."
"Intellectual history oozes forward, defying the search for precise chronological markers..."—What does this even mean???
"Finally a last question gave him the cue he had been waiting for, and he leaned forward and let loose: a silver stream of words that seemed to flow and flow forever."—Is Danielle Steele Mallaby's ghostwriter?
December 19, 2008
An enlightening history of the World Bank under Jim Wolfensohn
Former Iraq War architect and neocon superhawk Paul Wolfowitz was president of the World Bank from 2005 to 2007. Before his forced resignation, he used his office unfairly to promote bank employee Shaha Ali Riza, his girlfriend. If Wolfowitz had not stepped down voluntarily, the bank’s board surely would have sacked him. He might be the most notorious former World Bank president, but Jim Wolfensohn is the most intriguing. Former Olympian, Australian turned American, Harvard Business school graduate, corporate dealmaker, Carnegie Hall cellist, Renaissance man and a bona fide larger-than-life character, Wolfensohn was the World Bank’s president from 1995 to 2005. During this period, the restless, energetic Wolfensohn was like a raging tornado, ripping through the bank’s stately Washington, D.C., offices, upsetting long-held traditions, tangling daily with the bank’s entrenched bureaucrats, determined to make a difference for the three billion people who live in abject poverty. Journalist Sebastian Mallaby explores Wolfensohn’s dramatic decade, along with the bank’s changing practices and policies. getAbstract recommends Mallaby’s fascinating, behind-the-scenes look at how Wolfensohn and the bank struggled mightily against world poverty for 10 eventful years.
Former Iraq War architect and neocon superhawk Paul Wolfowitz was president of the World Bank from 2005 to 2007. Before his forced resignation, he used his office unfairly to promote bank employee Shaha Ali Riza, his girlfriend. If Wolfowitz had not stepped down voluntarily, the bank’s board surely would have sacked him. He might be the most notorious former World Bank president, but Jim Wolfensohn is the most intriguing. Former Olympian, Australian turned American, Harvard Business school graduate, corporate dealmaker, Carnegie Hall cellist, Renaissance man and a bona fide larger-than-life character, Wolfensohn was the World Bank’s president from 1995 to 2005. During this period, the restless, energetic Wolfensohn was like a raging tornado, ripping through the bank’s stately Washington, D.C., offices, upsetting long-held traditions, tangling daily with the bank’s entrenched bureaucrats, determined to make a difference for the three billion people who live in abject poverty. Journalist Sebastian Mallaby explores Wolfensohn’s dramatic decade, along with the bank’s changing practices and policies. getAbstract recommends Mallaby’s fascinating, behind-the-scenes look at how Wolfensohn and the bank struggled mightily against world poverty for 10 eventful years.
November 6, 2010
A really great portrait of James Wolfensohn and his time at the head of the World Bank. Mallaby shows how he both managed to reform the Bank (to decentralize operations and focus on real, concrete initiatives, like dams and local lending), and how me managed to piss off most of his staff and a good chunk of the NGO world while doing it. Mallaby makes some great hay out of the extreme anti-bank rhetoric that was directed against Wolfensohn, from both the left and the right, and demonstrates how disconnected most of it was from the reality of the Bank's work. He shows that the NGOs Wolfensohn originally tried to court were typically extremists "with no off switch," who opposed anything the Bank did, no matter how desired by impoverished Third Worlders, and how, in the end, Wolfensohn was right to distance the bank from them. He also shows how Bush's first Treasury Secretary, Paul O'Neill, refused to listen to the positive results of the Bank's lending and was ultimately outmaneuvered by the politically wily Wolfensohn.
Overall, it's a great story about the intersection between politics and personality. Worth reading for anybody interested in world poverty and global politics.
February 20, 2008
Explores the World Bank through the period of Jim Wolfenson's tenure as President. For people like myself who read about the World Bank frequently but still find themselves wondering from time to time, "what exactly do you people do?" this book is a great read. Mallaby tells the stories of the Bank's successes, failures, and struggles in a way that illustrates its reason for being, funding, enormous struggles with NGOs, donee governments, personality conflicts, and Seattle anti-globalization protestors. No matter what your political convictions: whether you oppose dams of all sorts, or the giving tax payer money from sovereign nations to a "World" organization, you cannot read this book and not come away with some admiration for the Bank's work. It is attempting to solve the problems of extreme poverty in the third world, and that deserves support.
December 4, 2009
This was somewhat interesting, although I didn't get all the way through it. It was most interesting for the brief history of the World Bank that it gave, discussing how the Bank's mission has changed over time. It also paints a vivid portrait of James Wolfensohn, the head of the Bank during the 90s. Wolfensohn is an interesting figure, but I found that focusing the story on him took away from the book. In fact, for me, this points to a larger flaw in many books written by journalists. Many books written by journalists are filled with mini-portraits of interesting people, but seem to lack a broader understanding of the subject.
August 23, 2011
Well worth reading, especially if you're interested in the near-recent intellectual history of the World Bank. I found the chapters on the WB's role in the reconstruction of Bosnia, Uganda as a poster child for development, and the role of NGOs in changing the Bank's environmental assessment standards particularly informative. I also enjoyed the descriptions of Wolfensohn's ridiculous renaissance man hijinks (e.g. taking cello lessons from Jacqueline du Pré). The full satirical article on Wolfensohn's arriving at the Bank with his trademark koala and the 1996 Australian men's Olympic fencing team, as quoted in the book, is here (page 3): http://www.bankswirled.org/Archive/19...
May 18, 2007
My sweet gave me this book, which is a very good survey of the World Bank during James Wolfensohn's time there. I was one of the few liberals who actually liked the idea of Wolfowitz taking over that institution, but this book shows why he failed -- it's a place with an entrenched bureacracy, that needs a leader with big ideas and a big personality to push them through. Unfortunately, Wolfie had the ideas but not the bureacratic skills or personality he needed to survive.
January 19, 2013
The facts are interesting. The judgments, as can be expected from a sampling of Mallaby's Washington Post column, are unfounded at best and abysmal at worst.
Mallaby just asserts that things are bad and good and the only time it seems to be justifiable or he seems to have any sense is about the good and bad of Wolfensohn. Many people's weaknesses are their strengths and vice versa and this is a pretty good example.
Mallaby just asserts that things are bad and good and the only time it seems to be justifiable or he seems to have any sense is about the good and bad of Wolfensohn. Many people's weaknesses are their strengths and vice versa and this is a pretty good example.
January 15, 2008
a bad, if not terrible book. Mallaby is overly impressed with his own finesse as a writer and so we hear more about the tale he is going to tell than we hear the tale. Wolfensohn on the page never seduces and beguiles us as he seems to have mallaby and the wretchedness of the world's poor never flourish as a presence beyond the repeated use of words like that.
March 3, 2008
The book used a biography of former World Bank president, Jim Wolfenson, to tell the history and workings of the World Bank. I enjoyed it, knowing very little of how the World Bank worked before I read it, and didn't feel a heavy bias for or against it's business. I appreciated the balanced perspective, and enjoyed reading about Wolfenson along the way.
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September 6, 2007
It must be hard to write a book about a large bureaucracy. I can't imagine many topics that are less compelling subjects for narratives. But Mallaby does a good job with the Wolfensohn story and seems to give the topic of development an even-handed treatment.
May 24, 2011
Mallaby succeeded in holding my attention through his beautifully integrated parallel stories of the enigmatic President of the World Bank and of the way human beings have thought about and acted upon economic development.
July 9, 2016
Interesting behind the scenes look at the World Bank and portrait of Jim Wolfensohn. The conclusion on the influence/role of NGOs is probably unpopular but I think it is a necessary perspective in the development world.
February 10, 2007
Pending.
March 13, 2007
Great, easy read fairly and objectively examining the pros and cons of the debate over globalization and the impact the former president of The World Bank has had on the issue at hand.
June 1, 2007
An interesting book about how the world bank functions, their approach to poverty, and especially about James Wolfensohn, the predecessor to Paul Wolfowitz.
August 27, 2007
Examination of how the world bank functions and about their previous leader James Wolfensohn and how he was unable to handle the institution.
May 23, 2010
Do I really work here?
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