Should Africa look to Latin America?
Solomon Mugera and his guests live in the capital of Venezuela, Caracas, will take up this question on BBC Africa's "Have Your Say" radio program on Wednesday May 17th at 1600 GMT.
Having been interested in this question for a long time. Should Africa look to Latin America or Asian Tigers, etc? I felt the need to put my few cents in (more than 2 cents and less than 5!) - and it was posted on the BBC site. Here's the edited post they published (edited for good reason) and my slightly longer version below.
Have a great weekend!
Should Africa look to Latin America?
Latin American countries have about one and a half centuries more experience in independent statehood and they have gone through many phases - such as liberalization in the early 20th century, import substitution industrialization, the development and institutionalization of regional economic communities - and although there have been many setbacks, the people have the national and collective Latin American experience and history to look back and learn from their own mistakes.
For Africa it would be ideal to learn from the experiences of Latin America but realistically newly independent nations in Africa have scarcely learned from the experiences of some of the first independent states in Africa, so how can we expect the continent as a whole to learn from the experiences of another continent and apply them? I think one of the major differences is the level of civic engagement in the political arena in Latin America and particularly when it comes to mass mobilization. These are the people who are electing presidents like Morales and Chavez.
In many African countries people are still not demanding things from government and many don't have the luxury of daily security such as employment, health, education, etc. in order to occupy their time doing so. Social and Economic rights and Civil and Political rights are being pursued simultaneously in African countries and more rapid globalization in the last 25 years, HIV/AIDS and Malaria have all exacerbated this pursuit much earlier and deeper on our 'critical path' to development than it did with Latin America. So yes, we 'should' learn, but will we? I don't think we can.
posted by Helenism at 9:13 p.m.
4 Comments:
Africa should look to Asia, not Latin America.
Latin America is seeing a reversion back to policies that failed twenty to thirty years ago. in that respect, Latin America is a cautionary reminder of what not to do.
Hello Boli-Nica:
...there's always something I remember when I think of Africans following the Asian example.
I was infuriated when writing my undergrad thesis b/c I came across a book entitled "Culture Matters" by Samuel Huntington and particularly an article by an African named (First name) Entounga-Mangelle. They were talking about how culture affects economic development. In the foreward to the book Samuel Huntington said something along the following:
"The economies of Singapore and Ghana were very similar in the 1960s...however in 1994 they were drastically different. The Asian values of industrialism, communal living, frugality, discipline, etc. contributed to positive economic growth and less corruption...Ghana has 'different' values"
Of course we know what he means by different - he's saying African values are a) homogenous and b) not conducive to growth, they lead us in a bad direction, etc.
I have a problem with such totalistic accounts. And this is the problem of comparison always. We're generalizing groups. So, perhaps, yes we should follow the Asian example in some way but I think it's a mirage to think we can follow any. Many gov'ts in Africa are trying to be "the next Singapore" or the first "African tiger" but - nothing. We need to do it our own way, organically.
The issue with Asia is to look not only at culture - which is only one of a number of factors that includes the quality and strength of institutions, governments economic and trade policies, quality of life, and educational policies, among others. That way you can isolate the reasons for current successes in Asia and compare them with what occurs in Latin American countries or Africa.
This was a failing of previous Latin American scholarship. They insisted that comparisons were not valid due to differences in the first world policies towards Asia and that towards Latin America - as well as cultural. Just now are scholars trying to make systematic comparisons, taking countries within Latin America and comparing them to Asian countries, and viewing how their role is within the global economy.
Ultimately, this is critical. You have to study why the rich got rich.
Of course, Africans can learn a lot from Asia and LatiAmerica... but they have to go his own way, because of the very unique culture and traditions.
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