Adrian Robert Bazbauers and Susan Engel: The Global Architecture of Multilateral Development Banks: A System of Debt or Development?

Abstract

This book explores the evolution of the 30 functioning multilateral
development banks (MDBs). MDBs have their roots in the growing system
of international finance and multilateral cooperation, with the first
recognisable MDB being proposed by Latin America in financial cooperation
with the US in the late 1930s. That Inter-American Bank did not eventuate
but was a precursor to the World Bank being negotiated at Bretton Woods
in 1944. Since then, a complex network of regional, sub-regional, and
specialised development banks has progressively emerged across the
globe, including two significant recent entrants established by China and
the BRICS.
MDBs arrange loans, credits, and guarantees for investment in member
states, generally with the stated aim of fostering economic growth. They
operate in both the Global North and South, though there are more MDBs
focusing on emerging and developing states. While the World Bank and
some of the larger regional banks have been scrutinised, little attention has
been paid to the smaller banks or the overall system. This book provides
the first study of all 30 MDBs and it evaluates their interrelationships. It
analyses the emergence of the MDBs in relation to geopolitics,
development paradigms and debt. It includes sections on each of the banks
as well as on how MDBs have approached the key sectors of infrastructure,
human development, and climate.
This book will be of particular interest to researchers of development
finance, global governance, and international political economy.