It’s time to end the ‘gentleman’s agreement’: An open letter to the IMF

The document argues that the long-standing convention of appointing a European as IMF managing director and a US national as World Bank president is "undemocratic, illegitimate, and rooted in neo-colonial principles." The signatories call for a selection process based on merit and transparency, where candidates are not required to be supported by their home governments and the winner is chosen by a majority of both voting shares and member states. They further advocate for a public job description requiring candidates to be well-versed in the challenges of low- and middle-income countries and committed to international human rights law and the IMF's commitments to climate change, gender inequality, and social spending.

• The signatories condemn the 'gentleman's agreement'—the 75-year convention that the IMF managing director is European and the World Bank president is a US national—as being "undemocratic, illegitimate, and rooted in neo-colonial principles."
• The letter proposes a new selection process where the winning candidate must secure the support of a majority of both member states and voting shares, ensuring that no single country or bloc of countries holds "excessive power."
• To increase transparency and accessibility, the authors demand the removal of the requirement that candidates be supported by their home governments, and call for public interviews and transparent voting procedures.
• The signatories argue that the IMF managing director should be qualified to defend the institution's independence from powerful members, understand the issues facing low- and middle-income countries, and adhere to international human rights law and the IMF's commitments regarding climate change, economic inequality, social spending, and gender inequality.

APA

Tooze, A., Cibils, A., Kentikelenis, A., Erten, B., Juego, B., Gabor, D., Elson, D., Powell, J., Grabel, I., Ortiz, I., Hickel, J., Miller, J., Weeks, J., Alexander, N., O’Flynn, P., Jolly, R., Balakrishnan, R., Rowden, R., Griffith-Jones, S., & Stubbs, T. (2019). It’s time to end the ‘gentleman’s agreement’: An open letter to the IMF. Recourse. https://re-course.org/newsupdates/its-time-to-end-the-gentlemans-agreement-an-open-letter-to-the-imf/

Chicago

Tooze, Adam, Alan Cibils, Alexander Kentikelenis, Bilge Erten, Bonn Juego, Daniela Gabor, Diane Elson, et al. It’s time to end the ‘gentleman’s agreement’: An open letter to the IMF. Recourse, 2019. https://re-course.org/newsupdates/its-time-to-end-the-gentlemans-agreement-an-open-letter-to-the-imf/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Tooze |first1=Adam |last2=Cibils |first2=Alan |last3=Kentikelenis |first3=Alexander |last4=Erten |first4=Bilge |last5=Juego |first5=Bonn |last6=Gabor |first6=Daniela |last7=Elson |first7=Diane |last8=Powell |first8=Jeff |last9=Grabel |first9=Ilene |display-authors=etal |title=It’s time to end the ‘gentleman’s agreement’: An open letter to the IMF |publisher=Recourse |date=3 September 2019 |url=https://re-course.org/newsupdates/its-time-to-end-the-gentlemans-agreement-an-open-letter-to-the-imf/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{tooze2019its, author = {Tooze, Adam and Cibils, Alan and Kentikelenis, Alexander and Erten, Bilge and Juego, Bonn and Gabor, Daniela and Elson, Diane and Powell, Jeff and Grabel, Ilene and Ortiz, Isabel and Hickel, Jason and Miller, John and Weeks, John and Alexander, Nancy and O’Flynn, Peter and Jolly, Richard and Balakrishnan, Radhika and Rowden, Rick and Griffith-Jones, Stephany and Stubbs, Thomas}, title = {{It’s time to end the ‘gentleman’s agreement’: An open letter to the IMF}}, publisher = {Recourse}, year = {2019}, month = sep, url = {https://re-course.org/newsupdates/its-time-to-end-the-gentlemans-agreement-an-open-letter-to-the-imf/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }