Publications /
Paper in Academic Journals

Back
From Bretton Woods to Braided Path: Navigating MDB Dynamics Amid Global Shifts
Authors
Pepe Zhang
Fernando Straface
June 13, 2025

This Paper was originally published on cebri.org

 

Within an ever-evolving system of multilateral development banks (MDB) currently reshaped by four structural geo-economic trends, the emergence of new MDBs like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the New Development Bank (NDB) carries great geopolitical significance. Yet the new MDBs, attuned to institutional and operational realities, have not upended the MDB system. Their relationship with long-established MDBs such as the World Bank currently resembles not a fork in the road, but a braided path–marked by both convergence and divergence, cooperation and manageable competition.

RELATED CONTENT

  • Authors
    September 2, 2025
    This paper argues that the Middle East has become the crucible of twenty-first-century imperial politics, exposing the collapse of legal universality and the resurgence of coercive empire. Through the archetypes of Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar, it analyzes how states invoke law rhetorically while practicing domination through siege, spectacle, and exclusion.The United States, China, Türkiye, Israel, Iran, the European Union, and the Gulf monarchies all oscillate between Hammurabian ...
  • August 28, 2025
    Alors que l’ordre mondial bascule vers un système multipolaire, l’Afrique se trouve face à un tournant décisif. Comment éviter la marginalisation et tirer parti de ses atouts stratégiques ? Entre partenariats concurrentiels des grandes puissances, montée du Sud global et élargissement d...
  • July 31, 2025
    This episode explores Africa's role amid a shifting global order marked by fragmentation and competing blocs. It examines whether African states are passive responders or active shapers of new strategic alignments like BRICS+ and South–South cooperation. The discussion also addresses Af...
  • Authors
    Bruno Saraiva
    July 21, 2025
    This article assesses the economic performance of the original BRICS economies, relative to the growth and currency appreciation projections presented in the papers that introduced the acronym, prior to the grouping becoming a diplomatic, political, and economic reality. It also discusses the BRICS agenda in the current challenging geopolitical context, in which economic fragmentation tends to raise costs for the global economy and presents considerable obstacles for emerging and de ...
  • Authors
    Bruno Saraiva
    July 14, 2025
    The BRICS+ group of countries met in Rio de Janeiro over the weekend of 6-7 July. The original group – Brazil, Russia, India, China and, soon after, South Africa – emerged as the materialization of a work of fiction. Jim O’Neill, then chief economist at Goldman Sachs, produced a report in 2001 drawing attention to the rise of these countries as emerging regional powers in global economic growth. ...
  • July 11, 2025
    In this episode, we discuss whether Africa’s sub-regions foster unity or deepen divides, examine how they handle political crises, and consider the impact of global powers on regional dynamics. We explore what’s needed for stronger cooperation and how Africa can preserve its diversity w...
  • Authors
    Pepe Zhang
    Fernando Straface
    June 13, 2025
    This Paper was originally published on cebri.org Within an ever-evolving system of multilateral development banks (MDB) currently reshaped by four structural geo-economic trends, the emergence of new MDBs like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the New Development Bank (NDB) carries great geopolitical significance. Yet the new MDBs, attuned to institutional and operational realities, have not upended the MDB system. Their relationship with long-e ...
  • April 17, 2025
    This policy brief explores the transformative role of BRICS as a platform for Global South cooperation and an emerging alternative to Western-dominated governance frameworks. Established with a shared goal of reforming international institutions and addressing global decision-making imbalances, BRICS has evolved from an economic concept into a multifaceted alliance that spans finance, diplomacy, development, and security. As the global order shifts towards multipolarity, BRICS has p ...
  • Authors
    March 14, 2025
    The traditional model of Official Development Assistance (ODA) has not only entrenched financial dependence but also served as a tool for geopolitical influence, often prioritizing donor interests over genuine economic self-sufficiency in developing nations. The 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) envisioned a shift towards private investment, but this strategy has largely failed. Capital flight, rising debt burdens, and systemic financial asymmetries have ensured that investm ...
  • Authors
    April 22, 2024
    Developing countries that identify themselves as parts of the Global South (GS) face a difficult task in making their collective influence felt in international affairs. They can achieve this goal only if they succeed in developing institutions to coordinate their policies efficiently around agreed agendas, in order to be in a position to negotiate more effectively with developed countries to reform the current international political and economic system. As a template they should l ...