Too Global To Fail: The World Bank at the Intersection of National and Global Public Policy in 2025

By J. Warren Evans and Robin Davies

Too Global to Fail: The World Bank at the Intersection of National and Global Public Policy in 2025 analyzes
the issue of global public goods, particularly those related to the environment, in the context of the global
development process. Long-term sustainability of development is at stake, as the distinction between
developing and developed countries in their approaches to environmental issues is expected to continue for
the foreseeable future. This study contends that global sustainability depends on and even consists of the
provision of certain global public goods and that the prevailing approach to development assistance does
not sufficiently recognize this fact.

A key question is whether the country-ownership model is even compatible with global sustainability.
A second key question is whether the political will exists to make the provision of global public goods an
explicit and central objective of official development assistance. A third key question concerns the
mobilization and use of resources for the World Bank’s work to support the provision of global public goods.

The World Bank is a major player on many regional and global issues, but its work at these levels is usually
enabled by donor contributions, most often in the form of grants targeted at narrow, particular purposes.
The editors of Too Global to Fail believe that international development assistance needs to undergo a major
transition in order to take as one of its explicit and principal objectives the provision of global public goods
important for development. The World Bank can play a leadership role in this transition, working within new
kinds of coalitions but not abandoning the fundamentals of its operating model. The World Bank can also
play a unique role in stimulating the private provision of global public goods through risk sharing and
market creation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: World Bank Publications
• Release date: Dec 15, 2014
• ISBN: 9781464803079

J. Warren Evans

J. Warren Evans is Professor of Animal Science at Texas A&M University, where he directs the equine reproduction program. For over 15 years he taught horse production and management courses at the University of California, Davis. A past president of the Equine Nutrition and Physiology Society, he is also author of The Horse (from W.H. Freeman) with A. Borton, H.F. Hintz, and L.D. Van Vleck.

Book preview