Is the new World Bank president a good choice?

The World Bank will have a new president on June 30^th: Jim Yong Kim. This decision was quite surprising since this name is not familiar to anyone. The World Bank is an institution whose mission is to help developing countries with either money or technical assistance to reduce poverty.

The World Bank has been criticized for corruption and imperialism: it seems like the U.S. are making most of the decisions and perhaps not always thinking about the best interest of the developing country they are trying to help. Ngozi Okonko-Iweala, the Nigerian Finance Minister, was a favorite candidate among African countries because an African president would mean the end of U.S. imperialist practices for the World Bank. Even though Jim Yong Kim has Korean origins and spent a lot of time in developing countries, he might not take action to put an end to U.S. imperialist practices abroad.

Jim Yong Kim has an impressive resume: he co-founded Partners in Health, worked as the director of the Department of HIV/AIDS at the World Health Organization and as the director of Dartmouth College, a private institution in New Hampshire. He is obviously qualified for the job. There is an embarrassing story about Jim Yong Kim taking part in a talent show at Dartmouth College, but let's hope he understands a certain dignity is required for his new job. There is nothing wrong with a university director having fun with the students.

Because of his work with the World Health Organization, I think this man could be the perfect president for the World Bank. He understands what the real issues are and can hopefully come up with solutions. However, he will not be working alone. If the World Bank is actually corrupt or under a U.S. strong hold, how much power will Jim Yong Kim really have? I hope he will be able to improve the reputation of the World Bank and to address issues efficiently in a way that empowers developing countries instead of promoting the U.S. values and interests. Jim Yong Kim already has to face criticism, for instance from Harvard professorSays Pritchett who claims that President Obama made a decision influenced by his liberal views.