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Since its establishment in 1991, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has been a champion of neoliberal transition and private sector financing in the post-communist world. With the decline of the Washington Consensus paradigm, the emergence of China as a powerful global development actor, and the rise of state capitalism, multilateral development banks have begun to adjust their policies to the changing environment reconsidering the role of the state. This article conceptualises the Covid-19 pandemic as an external shock that has accelerated this process. Analysing the EBRD’s response to the pandemic, we argue that the crisis has pushed the EBRD to redefine the state’s role, accepting it as a risk-taker in financing green infrastructure projects. Using historical institutionalist lenses, we find that the undergoing fusion between neoliberalism and state capitalism within a relatively coherent development finance regime complex is leading the EBRD to a post-pandemic compromise: the Bank maintains its commitment to private sector financing and simultaneously engages with states aiming to support the funding of sustainable infrastructure.
Verkhovets et al. (Thu,) studied this question.