Selection Versus Election: A Wasted Opportunity at the World Bank?

Here is an article I worte for the Carnegie Council: http://www.globalethicsnetwork.org/profiles/blogs/selection-versus-election-a-wasted-opportunity-at-the-world-bank

The announcement on April 16 that U.S.-backed Jim Yong Kim had been named president of the World Bank came as no surprise to the world as it repeated the decades-old pattern of an American holding the office. The selection process raises important questions that the World Bank needs to address.
Democracy in the twenty-first century dictates that institutions should be transparent and fair. Of course, the parameters that constitute "fair" can fluctuate from context to context, but the sense is that public office should be awarded to the most qualified candidate following a period of open competition and debate on the priority issues.

As Bill Easterly points out in the Guardian, Jim Yong Kim was not made to participate in open debate with his fellow nominees—Jose Antonio Ocampo of Colombia and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria—and as such failed to address the major questions regarding development policy at the World Bank. The haste with which the selection process took place—a mere three weeks—led critics such as Easterly and The Atlantic's Clive Crook to ask: Why such a rush?

In a video interview endorsing Ocampo, Kevin Gallagher of Boston University spoke of the World Bank's fundamental need to reform if it wanted to "play a leading role in the twenty-first century." Nancy Birdsall of the Center for Global Development also discussed the institution's need for innovation. "The World Bank needs to shift … to a culture of trying, failing, adjusting and trying again," she wrote on the CGD blog.
The inclusion of developing-world nominees such as Ocampo and Okonjo-Iweala presented an opportunity to initiate a much needed conversation on incorporating developing-country perspectives. With such evident need for reform, was this choice a wasted opportunity? Should Kim have participated in open debate? Can the World Bank maintain its relevance amid accusations that it is no longer representative of the international dynamic?

For criticisms of Kim's candidacy, see Lant Pritchett and Patrick Bond. For the realpolitik perspective, see Daniel W. Drezner in Foreign Policy. The Guardian has also rounded up a handful of recommendations for Kim's first year.

Further Reading:
"Do World Bank Classifications Hurt The Poor?" Seth Kaplan, Policy Innovations
"What Should Bretton Woods II Look Like?" Jose Antonio Ocampo, Project Syndicate
"Redesigning Global Economic Governance," Barry Herman, Policy Innovations
"An Intergovernmental Panel on Systemic Economic Risk," Kevin Gallagher, TripleCrisis
"Thomas Pogge on Global Poverty," Thomas Pogge, Keane Bhatt, Truthout
ETHICS MATTER: A Conversation with William Easterly, William Easterly, Devin Stewart, Carnegie Council