Paul Wolfowitz & The World Bank
A World Bank committee has reported that Paul Wolfowitz violated ethical and governance rules in arranging an unfairly compensated position for his lady-friend. The committee report summed up my previous thoughts more succinctly than I expected:
Mr Wolfowitz saw himself as the outsider to whom the established rules and standards did not apply.
The report conclusion is not a surprise. And I’m not surprised that the Bush administration will ignore the findings and continue to praise Wolfowitz as a uniquely qualified leader. I think this analysis by Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution addresses why the administration is tying itself to a sinking ship (emphasis added by me):
I take his continuing unwillingness to resign to be the biggest argument against his managerial abilities. He has lost the public relations battle and can no longer be effective. Why should he want the job any more? The obvious hypothesis is that he is emotionally committed to a losing battle, and is not placing much weight on the long-term interests of the institution he is running.
I have a feeling the final sentence will sum up the next 2 years of the Bush administration.
development & politics posted by: dan @ 15 May 2007 20:14