Regional development banks and global governance

While the World Bank is the focus of much of the literature on global development, regional development banks (RDBs) are essential, if often overlooked, pieces of global economic governance. This chapter examines the origins, evolution, and functions of the five largest regional development banks as well as several that operate at the sub-regional level. The chapter demonstrates that RDBs exist in an environment in which they are subject to material pressures and ideational conflicts from states, global society, and from within their own bureaucratic structures. The RDBs are vital instruments of global economic governance and for students of international organization, they provide additional examples of institutional design and development practices.