FT社評 世行應改革行長選任程序

The World Bank demands transparent, meritocratic governance of those countries that seek its assistance. It has yet to apply those principles to the appointment of its own president. In 2012, emerging economies led a serious challenge to the traditional US monopoly of the appointment, fielding credible, heavyweight candidates.

世界銀行(World Bank)要求尋求其援助的國家採取透明、選賢任能的治理方式。然而該行在選任自己的行長時，卻尚未應用上述原則。世行行長的任命，一向由美國把控。2012年，新興經濟體曾帶頭對這一局面發起正式挑戰，選派了多名夠格的重量級候選人蔘與角逐。

Yet in the end the job went to Jim Yong Kim, the last-minute choice of the Obama administration, who had an admirable record in academia and public health, but no experience of economic development or of running such a large and complex organisation.

不過，最終這一職位由金鏞（Jim Yong Kim，上圖）獲得。金鏞是奧巴馬(Obama)政府在最後關頭的選擇，他在學術界和公共健康領域有着令人欽佩的履歷，但缺乏經濟開發領域的經驗，也沒有掌管過一家如此龐大、複雜的組織。

Four years on, the World Bank’s staff are trying to pre-empt any move to wave through Mr Kim’s reappointment for a second term. They are calling for an end to the backroom deals that, for decades, have installed an American at the head of the World Bank and a European at the International Monetary Fund; and they warn that, without reform of the process, the World Bank risks becoming an anachronism.

四年過去了，如今世行員工正試圖搶先一步，阻止任何以矇混過關的方式讓金鏞獲得連任的舉動。他們呼籲結束幕後交易，幾十年來，這些幕後交易使得世行行長一直是美國人、國際貨幣基金組織(IMF)總裁一直是歐洲人。世行員工還警告稱，如果不改革這一程序，世行可能會落伍。

This level of internal discontent is troubling. The World Bank is a perennially fractious institution and its sprawling bureaucracy is undeniably in need of reform. But even by the standards of previous reorganisations, the changes instigated by Mr Kim have been protracted and poisonous, leading to the departure — both forced and voluntary — of many senior officials.

如此程度的內部不滿令人不安。世行長期以來一直是個難以控制的機構，其龐大的官僚機構無疑需要改革。然而，即使以之前幾次重組的標準來看，金鏞發起的改變也是拖沓而有害的，導致了許多資深官員的離職——既有被迫離職的，也有自願離職的。

More worrying still is Mr Kim’s failure to redefine the Bank’s mission, and restore its relevance in a world where middle-income countries, traditionally its biggest clients, can raise finance in global capital markets or go to nimbler regional development banks. The internal shake-up was long on management fads and short on substance. Mr Kim has launched admirable initiatives, such as a $500m fund to help fight future pandemics. But this does not amount to a coherent strategy. There have also been signs of mission creep, with the World Bank engaging in crisis lending to countries hit by the commodities slump, a role that would usually be filled by the IMF.

更令人擔憂的是，金鏞未能重新定義世行的使命，也就是在這個中等收入國家（這些國家傳統上是世行的最大客戶）能從全球資本市場或更靈活的地區開發銀行融得資金的時代恢復世行的重要性。世行的內部改革有很多是管理層的一時興起，少有實質性改變。金鏞曾發起一些令人欽佩的動議，比如一筆5億美元的基金，用於幫助對抗未來的傳染病。然而，這些舉動並未形成一種連貫的策略。此外，還有跡象顯示世行的使命正在悄悄改變——該行參與危機貸款發放，向遭受大宗商品暴跌打擊的國家放貸，而這一角色通常是由IMF扮演的。

Whatever one thinks of Mr Kim’s record in office, there is no question about the need to open up the opaque process by which he was appointed. The World Bank’s legitimacy in the eyes of the developing world has long been undermined by US dominance. This has provided a justification for China gradually to usurp its role, through bilateral lending and through sponsorship of competing institutions such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

不論人們如何看待金鏞任內的工作，毫無疑問的是，世行需要開放不透明的行長選任程序（當初正是這一程序讓金鏞獲得了任命）。長期以來，美國對世行的把持一直在削弱該行在發展中國家眼中的合法性。這也爲中國逐步取代美國所扮演的角色提供了正當理由，中國取而代之的方式是雙邊借貸以及倡導成立亞洲基礎設施投資銀行(AIIB)等與世行競爭的金融機構。

Other international institutions are rising to the challenge, with the competition for the post of UN secretary-general opened up to scrutiny and subject to explicit diversity objectives.

其他國際機構也正在接受這一挑戰——聯合國(UN)祕書長一職的角逐已公開接受監督，並要滿足明確的多元化目標。

The rules governing the appointment of the World Bank president are not prescriptive, so it would be entirely possible for the board to decide on a more open and meritocratic procedure. The right course would be to allow a search committee to draw up a shortlist of candidates, rather than leaving it to powerful shareholders to jump in with their own nominations. But voting weight on the board will still determine the final decision. No matter how strong the shortlist, it will make no difference if the result is still a backroom stitch-up by western countries.

支配世行行長選任的規則並非強制性的，因此，世行董事會決定採取更開放、選賢任能的程序是完全可能的。適當的程序是讓一個人才搜尋委員會擬定一份終選候選人名單，而不是任由強大的股東推出他們自己的提名候選人。不過，最終決定仍會由在董事會中的投票權重支配。不論終選候選人名單的陣容多麼強大，如果最終結果仍然由西方國家的幕後交易決定，情況不會有任何不同。

The US refusal to relax its stranglehold on the World Bank presidency is understandable but short-sighted. No matter who runs the Bank, the US will remain the biggest shareholder, with immense influence. Yet if it continues to view the institution purely as an instrument of American power, it will weaken the World Bank’s shaky credibility, to its own detriment.

美國拒絕放開對世行行長一職的把持是可以理解的，但這種行爲十分短視。不論誰掌管世行，美國都依然是最大的股東，對世行有着巨大的影響力。然而，如果美國繼續將該機構視爲自己施展權力的工具，它會削弱世行搖搖欲墜的可信度，損害美國自己的利益。