A New President at the World Bank

As Mr. Robert Zoellick who US President George W. Bush nominated to replace Mr. Paul Wolfowitz whose embattled tenure as president at the World Bank provoked a power situation that paralyzed Bank mission steps into his new position this week, there is every need for observers of the Bank to raise a crucial and pertinent question. That question is: How much does the Bush White House, its appointees, and all those who associate themselves with the ideologically-driven mission that Mr. Bush and his administration subscribe to understand about the post-Cold War World?

The logic inherent in that question is that the ideologically-steeped neoconservative elements who influence US foreign policy in the Bush administration seem to be fixated on just their understanding that the end of the Cold War led to the emergence of the US as the lone super-power. They are so obsessed with this reality to the degree that it tends to dictate not just their perception of global events, but also the actions that the embark on to shape world affairs as well as their reactions global events including the response of other global actors to US foreign policy. They strongly believe that the most important, if not the only change that matters is the emergence of the US as a lone super-power, which therefore implies that everyone else must subscribe to America’s prescriptions on world affairs. But the truth is that the rest of the world, which includes European states and significant proportions of Europe’s masses are averse to that obsession.

That not withstanding, the Bush White House is still driven by that obsession which guides every foreign policy initiative it takes. The result hasn’t been a resounding success in each and every case. Paul Wolfowitz’s presidency at the World Bank failed particularly because of his personification of that obsession. Mr. Zoellick will succeed at the Bank as president if he extricates himself from that obsession. Going by the broadside he threw at Venezuela two weeks ago during his pre-tenure tour of Africa, Europe, and Latin America, the concern that it might be difficult for him to do that is real. It is clearly evident that apart from the frosty relationships between Venezuela and the US, Mr. Zoellick might not be that happy with Venezuela’s determination to bring its oil sector firmly under state control. The two global oil giants—ConoccoPhilips and ExxonMobil—that are about to be locked out of Venezuela’s oil sector following their refusal to accept a new regime which gives majority control to Venezuela are US-based. Their assets in Venezuela run into $3.5b and $800m respectively. What Mr. Zoellick may have forgotten before he threw his broadside is that the rest of the world including Europeans may not share his perceptions. Proof of that can be found in the fact that the defiance expressed by ConoccoPhilips and ExxonMobil couldn’t deter other European oil giants—Chevron, BP, and Total—from falling in line. Mr. Zoellick must realize that US lone super-power status not withstanding, the world is still a diverse arena. He may not immerse himself into Mr. Wolfowitz's problem at the Bank, but the potentials for other problems are still out there.