The Multilateral Development Banks: Improving U.S. Leadership

Upton examines the U.S. policy process toward the five multilateral development banks-the World Bank Group, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development-as a case study in how the United States manages its participation in multilateral institutions. The management of the U.S. role in these institutions is significant primarily because these institutions play an increasingly important role in the U.S. relationship with the developing world and because, for the most part, they are mature institutions being called upon to adapt their roles and operating styles to new financial and political realities.

After examining the evolving role of the MDBs from the U.S. perspective, Upon describes the U.S. policy process toward the banks and assesses its strengths and weaknesses. She then sets out recommendations for improving the process and looks at the broader, more general lessons for U.S. policy formulation on multilateral institutions. An important assessment for scholars, researchers, and policy makers involved with international relations and economic policy.

BARBARA UPTON was the director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ project on the United States and the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs). She directed the U.S. Agency for International Development’s liaison with the MDBs, UN aid agencies, and other official aid donors for a number of years, and prior to that served as a finance officer for Latin America and the Caribbean. While a U.S. government official she participated in U.S. negotiating teams for all MDB funding negotiations from 1981 until 1995. Current she is engaged in private sector business activities.