The series of essays "When Poverty Bcomes a Myth" aims at drawing attention towards the flaws of our current approaches to the global challenge of poverty. Though the economic, political, humanitarian and social strategies to counter poverty proliferate, the results remain the greatest witness of their recurrent failures. Throughout the series of short articles I will be publishing, you'll find a comprehensive set of recommendations and general proposals which appeal more to the common sense rather than to our understanding of the intricate mechanisms of politics, economis and society.
Political Reforms & Good governance
Poverty is
far from being an offspring of resources shortage alone, it is truly the legacy
of a far greater disaster looming over the globe: Corruption!
Looking
back at the African continent with which we associate socio-economic backwardness,
the resources in there are far from being scarce, and the oil, diamond, gold
and agriculture are few aspects of the wealth present in profusion. What
undermines these resources is not the lacking human wealth either, it is far
and foremost the political leadership and centers of command whose manipulation
of the nations’ production is all but wise and guided.
The case of
Equatorial Guinea is a flamboyant case of African oil rich nations crippling
under poverty due to corruption and political tyranny. As reported by the Global
Witness:
“In
2011, Global Witness reported that his flamboyant
son Theodorin Obiang commissioned a personal super-yacht with a handsome price
tag of $380 million, worth three times the country’s combined budget for health
and education.”[1]
The case
pleads for a prioritization of anti-corruption measures as a pre-requisite for
poverty fighting. The state restructuration through the elimination of centers
of powers is a prominent step towards fair distribution and exploitation of
resources, but looking deeper into the cultural aspects of African Politics,
there is a key feature to explore: the culture of fear.
African
politics is always tainted with political figures with unlimited powers, in
most cases tyrannical and in few barbarians. The genocides and group massacres
led by government militias and presidential paramilitary troops are common
currency, and the people’s responses are a scarce commodity. It is indeed
unthinkable to still picture African states where rulers dominate a disgraced
populace in the 21st century, a century where democracy, human
rights and grassroots movements are weighing variables in the world political
chess-game.
Once a
nation is unchained from political constraints and totalitarian leaderships,
the prospects for growth, economic expansion and welfare state building follows
in an inherently natural process. This process is moreover self-sustaining:
under democratic state building and governance, the wealth distribution and
market liberalism alleviates socio-economic constraints and encourages progress
through renovating education which produces efficient, productive and values’
bearers’ citizen who make up the future democratic political frame of the
nation.
Though
internal political reforms impact directly domestic governance, it facilitates
as well development through the resistance of foreign operating parties.
African dictatorships have never survived without foreign assistance, be it
military, financial or logistical. The same democracies who denounce genocides
and human rights violations through the state spokesmen are those who operate
the military industrial complex and the financial institutions which provide
war criminals throughout the world with the necessary weapons and financing. A
true democracy thus allows the wider audiences to question, monitor and assess
state performance and stand against narrow profitable relations between state
officials and foreign operators. But where does Investment appear in the
process of Political democratization?
A tyrant in
the Middle East, in Southeast Asia or in the heart of Africa is all but
promised for a stable future. Autocracies lay the path for instability and high
risks in the long term, thus pushing away investors whose speculations on the
value of their assets deems them unprofitable if invested in a nation with
potential turmoil in the backyard. The case of Iran, Iraq and several Sub
Saharan African nations exemplifies the case: why would banks, multinationals,
sovereign funds and individuals put their money in projects that are not
guaranteed to last in cases of military coups, wars or social unrests? The high
risk investments have proven to be a fashion few years ago, but with the
fallouts of the financial crisis, the world post-2008 is far from getting back
to the custom of high risk – high benefit ventures.
To be continued...
Mohamed Amine Belarbi
[1] Global Witness, “Son of Equatorial
Guinea’s dictator plans one of world’s most expensive yachts.” Press release,
28 February 2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment