18 June 2005
Tormented Continent
In his review of Africa Unchained in the June 17, 2005, Wall Street Journal, Martin Hutchinson rightfully lays part of the blame for the lack of political reform in Africa's development experience to the dominance of aid agencies, charities and NGOs in the Western cadres dealing with the continent. He bemoans the absence of the financiers and businessmen who commonly lead enterprise development in India and China. At the same time, he recognizes that economic aid needs to be dispensed in much smaller amounts than they have been traditionally.
These two conditions for faster and fairer creation of wealth in Africa conflict with each other. It is obvious that India's and China's economies are so much larger than the fragmented national economies of Africa. They provide the magnitude of incentives to which Western financiers and businessmen respond with their most inspired efforts. If the objective of aid policy in Africa is, indeed, "to help rob terrorists of a breeding ground", that should lend the urgency needed to find the monetary resources needed to attract, even if through artificial incentives, the kind of economic "literates" needed to meet the challenge of transforming Africa into a vibrant community of opportunity.
In his review of Africa Unchained in the June 17, 2005, Wall Street Journal, Martin Hutchinson rightfully lays part of the blame for the lack of political reform in Africa's development experience to the dominance of aid agencies, charities and NGOs in the Western cadres dealing with the continent. He bemoans the absence of the financiers and businessmen who commonly lead enterprise development in India and China. At the same time, he recognizes that economic aid needs to be dispensed in much smaller amounts than they have been traditionally.
These two conditions for faster and fairer creation of wealth in Africa conflict with each other. It is obvious that India's and China's economies are so much larger than the fragmented national economies of Africa. They provide the magnitude of incentives to which Western financiers and businessmen respond with their most inspired efforts. If the objective of aid policy in Africa is, indeed, "to help rob terrorists of a breeding ground", that should lend the urgency needed to find the monetary resources needed to attract, even if through artificial incentives, the kind of economic "literates" needed to meet the challenge of transforming Africa into a vibrant community of opportunity.
12 June 2005
Benevolent Hegemon
As reported in the New York Times of 6/12/05, many of the states that refused to join the U.S. coalition in invading Iraq two years ago have now agreed to join in supporting the formation of a representative democratic system of government there. Evidently, they have decided that it is best to help obtain a lasting stable outcome to the overthrow of the Saddam regime, regardless of their objections to the pretenses of the Bush Administration’s original reasons for invading.
This shows a rational acceptance of the advantages of the international hegemonic system that the U.S. has dominated since the end of WWII. In that system, as long as the hegemon is deemed benevolent overall, it is best to preserve its structure, and to accept the missteps of the leading nation, in order to avoid the possibility of a chaotic world order subject to technologically-enabled non-state terrorists.
As reported in the New York Times of 6/12/05, many of the states that refused to join the U.S. coalition in invading Iraq two years ago have now agreed to join in supporting the formation of a representative democratic system of government there. Evidently, they have decided that it is best to help obtain a lasting stable outcome to the overthrow of the Saddam regime, regardless of their objections to the pretenses of the Bush Administration’s original reasons for invading.
This shows a rational acceptance of the advantages of the international hegemonic system that the U.S. has dominated since the end of WWII. In that system, as long as the hegemon is deemed benevolent overall, it is best to preserve its structure, and to accept the missteps of the leading nation, in order to avoid the possibility of a chaotic world order subject to technologically-enabled non-state terrorists.
