WASHINGTON, 13 July 2007 — Days after his departure from the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz has joined the American Enterprise Institute, AEI, as a visiting scholar, the neo-conservative Washington-based think tank announced recently.
The AEI said Wolfowitz will focus on development issues, particularly in Africa, and on public-private partnerships. Wolfowitz said he was joining the AEI as it would allow him to continue influencing public policy.
The AEI has been home to leading advocates of the Iraq war. Before the Iraq war, AEI helped spawn the administration’s regime change plans. Several Iraq war architects — such as Richard Perle, Dick Cheney, John Bolton, and Doug Feith — previously worked at AEI before their service in the administration. In February 2003, President George Bush delivered a major policy speech to AEI, mapping out his war plan, “thanking them (AEI) for their service” and support for the invasion.
Wolfowitz’s last day as head of the World Bank, a major poverty-fighting institution, was June 30 and ended a stormy two-year run. He was essentially forced to step down from the World Bank after a special panel found he broke bank rules in arranging a hefty pay raise for Shaha Riza, his girlfriend and a bank employee.
Wolfowitz’s handling of the pay package prompted a staff revolt and calls by Europeans and others for him to resign. The shake-up at the top of the World Bank came just days after the head of the International Monetary Fund, Rodrigo Rato, announced his pending resignation from the World Bank’s sister organization.
Some analysts say the two institutions, forged from the ashes of World War II, are now struggling to maintain their legitimacy amid a rapidly shifting global economic landscape. Bush, who had tapped Wolfowitz for the World Bank post, turned to Robert Zoellick to replace him.
Zoellick, who starts a five-year term of office, also started work on Monday as the new president of the World Bank. The former diplomat and trade chief said his first priorities is likely to be a bid to restore confidence in the bank which was shook by a scandal that engulfed Wolfowitz.
