Our speaker will be Doron Ella, who will discuss his paper: "China’s Approach towards Designing the AIIB: A Comparative Study of the AIIB, the ADB and the WB".

​Abstract:

This paper explores what characterizes China’s approach towards institutional-building in terms of process and design, whether it is different from the manner other states, particularly the U.S., approach this issue, and if so, how. More generally, it addresses the question of whether different actors obtain different approaches to institutional-building, and if so, how this variation can be explained. Putting a special emphasis on the institutional design of multilateral development banks (MDBs), and particularly on the design of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), I argue that China implements a dual approach towards institutional-building, which was realized in the AIIB through the adoption and implementation of certain institutional design features that China considered as effective from existing MDBs, such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB). At the same time, China modified certain existing institutional design features that are consistent with its own state-interests, and also introduced new features that reflect its own set of normative values, while aspiring to maintain an equilibrium between legitimacy and institutional efficiency. For the purpose of empirically analyzing this paper’s argument, a comparison is made between the newly Chinese-established AIIB with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. This comparison is done through a most similar cases design, emphasizing key patterns of similarity and difference.