This concluding book in the Multilateral Development Bank series draws on the insights presented in the other volumes to summarize the present and future of multilateral development banks as a genre of development agencies.
Culpeper goes beyond the scope of the previous volumes in two ways. First, he provides extensive discussion of the World Bank Group - the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Development Association, and the International Finance Corporation. Secondly, he discusses the evolution of development theory and development-promotion which sets the context for the growth of multilateral development bank activity over the last half-century.
For those with an interest in the role of the multilateral development banks, this book provides an excellent overview of the group.

• List of Tables xi
• Foreword, John Lewis xiii
• Preface, Roy Culpeper xv
• Acknowledgments xvii
• List of Acronyms xix
• 1 Introduction 1
• Three Timely Reasons, 2
• MDBs at the Crossroads, 10
• Overview, 11
• 2 History and Evolution 23
• Origins, 23
• Institutional Characteristics, 29
• The RDBs and the World Bank:
• Comparisons and Relationships, 37
• 3 MDBs in the 1990s: Reflection and Reform 47
• Key Policy Implications of the MDB Project, 48
• The Portfolio Reviews, 58
• Conclusion: Relations Between the MDBs and
• Related Organizations, 67
• 4 MDBs as Agents of Change: The Development Impact 71
• The First Three Decades (1945-1975): From Investment
• to Growth, 72
• Impact of Multilateral Bank Assistance, 79
• The Past Two Decades: From Poverty Reduction to Adjustment
• and Back, 83
• Poverty Reduction, 85
• Conclusion: Achievements and Prospects for Eliminating
• Poverty, 99
• 5 MDBs in the Family of Development Cooperation Agencies 107
• Africa, 108
• Asia, 110
• The Americas, 113
• Eastern and Central Europe and Central Asia, 225
• Systemic Principles and Structures, 118
• Harmonizing Evaluation Systems, 223
• Putting Borrowing Clients in the Driver's Seat: Harmonizing
• Country Strategies, 224
• Creating a Client Satisfaction Unit, 226
• Conclusion, 128
• 6 Key Challenges for the Multilateral Banks:
• Resource Flows and Debt 133
• Resources, 133
• Multilateral Debt, 138
• Nonconcessional Debt, 143
• Concessional Debt, 246
• The September 1996 Debt Deal, 247
• Summary, 249
• 7 Do the Multilateral Banks Have a Future? 153
• The Future of Development, 253
• Toward a Vision for the Twenty-First Century, 255
• From Vision to Reality, 256
• From Assistance to Cooperation: A Role for the MDBs, 258
• From Resource Transfers to Quality Assurance, 260
• Challenges to the MDBs: Falling Resource Flows and Debt, 262
• Titans or Behemoths? 264
• Conclusion, 266
• Appendix 171
• Bibliography 177
• Index 185
• About the Book and Author 191

Roy Culpeper
Roy Culpeper has been president of The North-South Institute in Ottawa, Canada, since 1995. Before joining the Institute in 1986, he was for three years adviser to the Canadian executive director of the World Bank.