Zambian economist and author Dambisa Moyo believes western nations are heading for second division status unless they undertake radical reform. She talks to Stephen Sackur (Jan 19, 2011).
You were amazing, as an African I can feel represented and more than motivated to create change in my country. Regarding the interview, You were as sharp as a sword, giving simple and significant answers to any question posed to you, You gained a new fan and admirer, Keep it Up
She was very brave to posit these ideas so early on. Yes, they definitely could be seen at a distance but it's only the myopia of the West that keeps them from coming to terms with this eventuality.
I wish the interviewer would stop interrupting. I thought the "hard" in "HARDtalk" was supposed to refer to tough questions, not having to quickly wrap up complex issues into five-second sound-bites before getting pulled toward another direction.
She is in a hotel in Mexico City today and 12 hrs later, she's bedding down in a condo in Hong Kong. This king of people aint your usual one-town girl.
And now today China is the largest economy in the world. The interviewer was being so smug talking down to her, but Ms Dambisa was on point with her prognosis. What a remarkable woman.
Sami is a wants the best for the West and for Africa. Every of her words proved that. And she nailed it by presenting only Western world and Africa as possible places she will spend the rest of her life. He interviewer should grow up to differentiate destructive criticism from constructive criticism of the West.
Stephen Sackur is not an "investigative journalist" as you say. He is the host of a show named HARD TALK which is, by design, a forum for debating people with controversial ideas or polarizing views. Sackur takes the position of devil's advocate, a commonly taken position in debate which purposefully engages the subject in an argumentative discussion in order to reveal any potential weakness in the subjects position. This is not "invetsigative journalism". I should add, I am a huge fan of Moyo.
Yes that is fair, hard questions are great but can he let her answer them instead of moving on to the next question and deflecting and interrupting, he sucks! He's terrible at his job.
Obviously, there are two concerns of citizens 1- Freedom and 2- Wellbeing. The prevailing models of Western Democracy and that of China are essentially focussed on only one aspect. Owing to the short term of democratic governments, the long term social targets such as education, health and infrastructure are not in focus whereas in China model the citizens have a better focus on social development and infrastructure at the cost of freedom to choose the government. It could be interesting if the developing nations decide on a 'national agenda of social development' developed/agreed by all stakeholders and voted by referendum and can't be reversed by an elected government. Performance of the elected governments would be gauged based on how well they achieve these targets. There has to be a model to maintain a democratic society with a long-term focus on the well being of their citizens.
Wow! Dambisa foresaw the rise of Donald Trump's protectionism policies way back in 2011. She should return to Zambia and enter politics and hopefully lift Zambia and Africa out of it's economic woes.
The two examples she had to give on countries with longer terms are Brazil and mexico,Both disasters.If the rational behind longer terms is better long term strategy by the govts ,I would like to hear examples of such cases.Not surprised the interviewer from BBC did not point it out,as it would have been politically incorrect to do so.
this guy thinks that US debt default is out of the question? not only isn't it off the table, it's guaranteed to happen. there is absolutely no chance that the US will ever pay off it's public debt. there will either be outright default or an inflationary default.
Fair point, but it's because programmes like HARDtalk frequently concern themselves with politicians, whose evasiveness is something the interviewer's style is designed to combat. In Moyo's own terms, it's an artifact of the shows' schema and not something the interviewer needs to address; especially since Moyo still manages to come across so well in spite of it.
I am positively sure that you have the real answers. Please share your wisdom.Go ahead give your prescription.The interviewer was clearly more concerned about arguing than reasoning.Sadly we are educated to live in this fairy tale life. It is impossible for the western world to lose its economic power.Is it?
Democracy is not a pre-requisite for economic growth. True, but the examples of China, Chile and India are cases of economic growth starting from very low bases. Does the democracy-growth argument hold for mature countries like the U.S.? Why is everyone so fascinated with China? China's growth model--reliance on exports, infrastructure development--has run its course. The country has a closed political system, yet we expect them to address structural issues better than we do?
@nissyabc123 The standard BBC interview technique is that of "Devil's Advocate" and intentionally seeks to take the opposing view from that of the interviewee. And yes, it's a particularly pushy technique that leads to the interviewer intervening wherever an inconsistency is perceived in the interviewee's line of argument. Some BBC journalists have drawn criticism for the number of interventions made in an interview and not allowing the argument to be developed.
She is great but she is wrong about Brazil having 7-year terms for political offices. Terms are 4 years with 1 consecutive reelection for all executive offices, infinite reelection for legislative offices, only Senators have 8-year terms with infinite reelection.
It is clear to me that this dude is anti-China and wants her to say negative things about it. Dambisa was smart not to fall into that trap of getting into politics. The dude is super arrogant and has no knowledge on the matter nor does he looks interested on how other types of government other than democracy can succeed. And, he seems to be very unhappy about it.
I love this response let us get back to earth. Poor interview. This man is very ignorant about the subject but worked really hard to hide his ignorance by over empfasising a
I am sure each time Stephen watches this clip he feels a complete idiot by wondering if the US defaulting is a conceivably ever a possibility in the real world? Well we're in the real world and what have we seen? The first ever downgrade by S&P and who knew this would come so soon? Exactly the point Ms. Moyo was making about the West - stop the pomposity, listen more and stop blaming everyone about everything.
the comments below all have to do with either sackur's posturing and mean demeanor (its his job get over it), or moyo's style of defense and presentation. seems none of you took the time to actually hear and enlighten yourselves on the actual discussions at hand. sackur almost destroyed this lady's arguments, her over the top prescriptions for default without taking into acct what a US default wud mean for the world economy is just plain dumb for a person of her intellect
madscientistify adding to your statement is how Sackur asked her that after China’s rise in power, it will also face problems as what is America is facing right now such as food health-related problems and so on.
I can’t stand people interrupting and talking over others, that goes for interviewers too. I doesn’t make you look intelligent. Let the guests answer the questions.
BBC hardtalk is more like BBC talkshit with disingenuous Stephen tryhard wanting to manufacture drama at every turn for the sake of it. Only managed to watch because Dambisa put all the sense in that convo...
