A Global Consensus on Selecting the World Bank President: It Shouldn’t Have Been Robert Zoellick

When World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz resigned in late May 2007, I mentioned a virtual survey carried out by the Center for Global Development (CGD) to assess the selection process of the World Bank and determine the required qualifications of the next president. Although the United States named once again the World Bank president, the CGD just published the results of its survey. About 700 people participated in the survey and the great majority rejected the selection prerogative of the US. The CGD had suggested nine candidates to replace M. Wolfowitz. Kemal Dervis, former Turkish Minister of Economic Affairs and current head of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), was the favorite. The new World Bank president, Robert Zoellick, was ranked 7th. The most popular alternative to the nine candidates proposed by the CGD was Bill Clinton.