As those who have visited recently will have noticed, Global Memo has been placed on a temporary hold. We will be relaunching the site later this year.

The Financial Times this morning reported on divisions within U.S. President George W. Bush’s administration over the fate of World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz. The three camps, as they appear to me - one of which will emerge to identify Wolfowitz’s successor - include the following:
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This blog’s first post briefly overviewed the bodies involved in the selection of the World Bank President, at the Bank level but more importantly who is typically involved within the U.S. executive branch.

As the Executive Board’s decision on Wolfowitz’s fate draws closer, a closer look at its internal machinery would be informative. Read the rest of this entry »

In addition to standing responsibilities for the maintenance of international peace and security, the United Nations Charter prescribes to the Security Council a leading role in the selection of the world body’s chief administrative officer. The Charter however offers little guidance on the procedures the Council should employ in this task. Aside from minimal parameters adopted by the General Assembly in 1946, the Council has itself determined the procedures to be used, often informally and usually as each selection was already underway.

From 1946 to 1981, the process simply involved successive formal votes, characterized more often than not by protracted and politicized bargaining among the permanent members, until a single acceptable individual emerged. In 1981, however, China and the United States deadlocked over the course of sixteen ballots in their respective opposition to incumbent Kurt Waldheim and Salim Ahmed Salim. To avoid continued impasse, then-Council President Olara Otunnu conducted an informal “straw poll” to assess support among Council members for a number of new candidates. Read the rest of this entry »

Discussions at the World Bank are increasingly suggest an early departure for Paul Wolfowitz. If tradition holds, it will fall to the U.S. President, George W. Bush, to nominate his replacement. That the U.S. has a monopoly on the Bank’s top post has been noted by a number of pundits, bloggers, commentators and observers…ad nauseum.

But few (any?) have offered the global public more than this superficial, if important, criticism of the appointment process. However, until another government formally nominates a candidate, we can assume the U.S.’s special privilege will continued unchallenged. As such, it is all the more unfortunate that experts on the issue have not delved into how the U.S. and other governments would move forward in finding a successor.
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Global Memo offers a “peek behind the curtain” at the selection of global officials and how they are chosen by the world’s governments.
read on…

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