Only when the fruits of our labors are shared equally amongst all of mankind shall we, as a species, flourish. At best, human potential will be hindered, or remain completely unrealized, that is, until we reach a point where monetary reimbursement is not necessary, when financial incentive is not needed, and the people of the world are driven to "work" or action, instead, by their innermost passion and interest.
Fascinating discussion: He says extractionism. I say Crony Capitalism or just Cronyism. He says inclusiveness. I say Education. He also descries the solution is empowerment through organization. I would conclude that educating people how to empower themselves through organization is the bane of cronyism!
Dr. Robinsons' theory is not "new" , black Americans have always recognized and understood these historical relevant facts about the differences between ethnic groups around the world. I applaud the professor for being honest and for sharing his study results. Maybe more people will start to understand our condition and begin to work in harmony to correct some of the wrong. Inequality = INIQUITY
true, but it doesn't mean that this perspective is incorrect. theories provide a perspective on a problem. this theory is a stepping stone, that acknowledges the colonial context, that will help lead us to the complete picture.
Interesting; the American colonies inherited a tradition of struggling for representative government dating from the Magna Carta to the English Civil Wars and the Glorious Revolution. The seed was there. In South America, any tendency was suffocated by an absolutist Spanish monarchy. Not to mention Protestant rebellion against Catholic dogma.
Zimbabwe had thriving agriculture until Mugabe stole the land of white farmers and his thugs forced the white farmers into exile. The abuse of the white farmers is documented in a movie "Mugabe And The White African". Another good film about the abuse of white people living in Africa is a 1966 Italian documentary "Africa Addio."
It might sound more critical because it engages with the colonial context, but it is no better than the Modernisation thesis, in that it ignores or elides the ongoing exploitative relationships developing countries have with developed countries!
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This shy and humble attempt at describing what was/is happening is "new theory of political economy"? :D Might have been in the sixties. If you listened to right people. There is so much more to add here. It merely scratches the surface of world violent order spontaneously held by privileged circles. It also carefully cow-tows, through language, to the powers and concepts which still rule. Majority of professors are masters of this technique. Thats why they are professors in the first place.
I'm not given to believing that there is one unified grand theory explaining why poverty exists. BUT I do believe that this is as close as we will ever get. The idea of inclusive vs. extractive economic and political institutions leading to prosperity vs. poverty makes a tremendous amount of sense on theoretical as well as practical grounds. Although other factors must influence a nation's level of prosperity, this theory in my opinion neatly captures the key forces at work.
In his 'Carta de Jamaica,' Simon Bolivar said the same thing about extractive economies and how they trend toward tyrannical rule. He does ignore that Paraguay, because of this monolithic rule was perhaps the most advanced Latin American nation before the War of the Triple Alliance. Also, he does not explain how the autonomy necessary to develop human capital (the autonomy that the Virginia Company ceded to the colonists) could be posible when working with an organization like the World Bank.
As long as there is incentive for people to exploit other people (money, wealth, power, etc), rather than to try to work together, we will always have corruption in the system. The mere fact that if you have a dollar which in turn makes your life easier and someone who does not has a much harder life should be able to show the inherent flaws of our economic system.
Why Nations Fail? It is because we have a lack of vision and this, is due to seeing money as our only incentive as apposed to creating a more sustainable world.
i think you're right on civilization is the domesitication and passification of humanity once that system stops people break into tribal factions and develop their own customs cultures and politics
"What we need to do is stop being capitalistic (sorry, corporatistic) ignorant bastards and help others out" There are serious issues with that. Any system based on non-selfish behavior is open to exploitation on an extremely fundamental level. In the end, no system is perfect, and we probably want a mix of mechanisms. Many aspects of capitalism are good though. Such as the basic principle of exchange of equal value, private property and personal rewards to give an incentive to work.
Lol, any socialistic country fails always cause it doesn't work. The only way forward is pure capitalism without government, economics start to fail when government dips its hand in it.
However, the jumps in science and technology that had given countries like the United States boosts in standard of living came from the equalization of citizens. The exploiting of developing areas of foreign countries has come BACK full force but the good fortune the USA has been coasting on for the last 50 years is from the previous generation. Back when things like the infancy of the internet and trips to the moon were happening the amount of exploitation was less than it is today.
now thats not totally true. you definitely have a point, in that it exists at all levels. but we also have other desires that dont involve gaining power. we do exhibit compassion.
That is absolutely not the law of capitalism. Any system that respects the rights of individuals, capitalism will exist, because it allows the individual the freedom to contract with another to their mutual benefit. Any other system that fails this is not free market capitalism, but some crony capitalism, or subsidized capitalism which protects one, and violates another.
... yes how a man presents himself is directly related to his character. Dress is one way that humanity distinguishes itself from animal Kingdom. It is called decorum.
Why nations fail? Because the people put the burden of national infrastructure of a nation on the whim of a small group of corrupt people called the state. What do we need? A REAL free market. Respect for property rights. Volunteerism. Compassion. But most of all, elimination of a big, powerful state.
In a recent international survey of international standard of living Norway ranked No.1, Australia at No.2 (where I am). On the other hand Norway's f**king *cold* :) I hear my collegues whinge all the time about how hard their lives are and truth be told mine's no bed of roses either. But that's natural, everyone thinks the grass is greener somewhere else. Australia and Norway *have* suffered decline but the fact is that they're still about as good as it gets. At least we're not in America.
Which researchers and who funds them? Can you site any sources for your information or is this, once again, just word of mouth information? I find such things VERY hard to believe when there are so many factors for each individual to be able to say whether or not intelligence is, in fact, rooted in one particular area. There's only been some peer reviewed studies on the effects of nutrition and wealth effecting such things but only correlation is found and not causation (to date).
With each passing year the global economic center is moving back to the East(the status quo).European population is decreasing (from one fifth they would become one tenth by around 2060)... The most power western powerful is dependent on immigrant to run it tech sector. The future is relentlessly moving to the east....are u still optimistic :-)
I know this is a littel out of context but when will you guys focus on the reason for political coruption and the reasons of failure*U.S is going down that right now*?
Hitler also had compassion ... U cannot cherry pick human actions ONLY human nature. There R no altruistic humans. Even Mother Theresa liked the power & prestige. All humans act on self interest. Just my opinion.
Interesting but not conclusive. Politics and Economy is the base but to make it work for centuries we need a Good Administrative and Taxation system otherwise it is bound to fail sooner or later. Good administrative and taxation system also means equal opportunity to all and distribution of wealth is such (taxation system) that each one has enough to cover basic needs and have some surplus to enjoy life no matter where they are in society. Nation stand tall with no danger form within or without.
he is promoting central gov, which imo is not necessarily the answer for ppl having power. anything that promotes central gov n central bank is taking power away from ppl.
The problem is at least in America is the pepole who are rich and poor tend to stay that way but isnt it funnny that the most sucesful anti.... campaign is always by a poor person the rich dont want poor impowered for fear that they will loes their luxiourios and often unnesasary life styles
a button. a simple button. i wouldnt argue if the man was saggin in sweatpants. but he is presentable. and ive met people with greater character who wear shorts and a tshirt than those in suits.
So, the idea is that there is a perfect model from the "developed countries" and the rest of the world has to aim for that?? I'm sorry, but I thought the idea behind RSA was to "create a new enlightenment", and this smells like ethnocentrism for me...
Yeah dude, I looked. Wow, that's embarresing, you got that almost exactly backwards. Europe: very highly regulated capital market, relatively high equality, good access to health/eduation/justice : highest standard of living in the world. Africa: the opposite of everything above. Please think it through before you start spouting your talk radio talking points in a place where you might have to answer to thinking people.
