Origins of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Abstract

In post–cold war Europe, international institutions associated with an earlier era of U.S. hegemony in the Western hemisphere continue to exist and in some cases are playing a significant role in managing a broad array of challenges. New institutions are also being created to manage new challenges. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) may be the most visible example. On 29 May 1990, forty states and two European organizations signed articles of agreement to establish this new institution, whose declared purpose is “to foster the transition towards open market-oriented economies and to promote private and entrepreneurial initiative in the Central and Eastern European countries committed to and applying the principles of multiparty democracy, pluralism, and market economies.”