Despite a thicket of troubles, from deadly illnesses like AIDS and malaria to corrupt politicians and deep-seated poverty, a plurality of Africans say they are better off today than they were five years ago and are optimistic about their future and that of the next generation, according to a poll conducted in 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa by The New York Times and the Pew Global Attitudes Project.
The poll results offer an unusual and complex portrait of a continent in flux, a snapshot of 10 key modern African states as they struggle to build accountable governments, manage violent conflict and turn their natural resources into wealth for the population.
It found that in the main, Africans are satisfied with their national governments and a majority of respondents in seven of the 10 countries said their economic situation was at least somewhat good. But many said that they face a wide array of difficult and sometimes life-threatening problems, from illegal drug trafficking to political corruption, from the lack of clean water to inadequate schools for their children, from ethnic and political violence to deadly disease.
Read it all and Check out the fuller documentation is you are so inclined.
As best I can tell, the progress is fragile but very real. Governments chosen by free elections have become the norm in Subsaharan Africa. Heavy-handed regulation, with its stultifying costs and its opportunities for corruption, has eased. Examples of prosperity are not hard to find. These and other trends will encourage more entrepreneurship and reinforce demands for governmental reform. The more progress people see, the less willing they will be to accept governmental ineptitude, corruption, and unresponsiveness. The more responsive government becomes, the more it will improve education and infrastructure and the less it will weigh down the private sector. This is what economists call a “virtuous circle,” in which progress begets progress.
This will be a long process, with many stops and starts but it will be at work. The more some African countries (e.g., Ghana) prosper, the more people elsewhere will demand the same. We’re seeing this self-reinforcing dynamic in India and Mexico (yes, Mexico). We’ll see it in Africa.
I wish I were as sanguine as Irenaeus. South Africa is prospering but right next door Zimbabwe is being systematically destroyed by its ruthless 83-year-old dictator. Yet the people of Zimbabwe, and the enormously powerful government of South Africa, seem able to do nothing. The African Union was founded with the specific aim of encouraging good governance and applying pressure on corrupt and undemocratic governments. Yet despite meeting after meeting there has been only the barest whisper of criticism of Robert Mugabe and his government in Zimbabwe. In fact, the indignant African nations are insisting that Zimbabwe be invited to the European-African summit in Lisbon in December.
Terry Tee: Fair enough. African governments have long had self-entrenchment as a top priority and not criticizing each other has furthered that goal. Mugabe, moreover, may have special immunity as a former “freedom fighter”. That’s certainly how Nelson Mandela regarded him even though Mandela was in many ways Mugabe’s antithesis.
The African Union began as a kleptocratic parody of the European Union—and noninterference in other African countries’ internal affairs has always been its highest commandment. The AU may since have done some creditable peacekeeping; I don’t know enough to evaluate that.
But I don’t look to the African Union or to old-line governments for reform. Reform will come by popular demand and through democratic governments and will be a long process.
Consider developments in India over the past two decades. During the 1980s, Indians increasingly asked themselves, “Why do Indian businessmen prosper everywhere except India.” Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi shared that sentiment, started removing deadening government regulations, and helped start a boom that continues to this day.
Mexico is on a similar track. As a group, legal Mexican immigrants prosper in the United States—and both legal and illegal Mexican workers see a cleaner, fairer, more efficient system north of the border. They rightly ask, “If we can get ahead in the United States, why can’t we get ahead at home?” Mexican voters have become less tolerant of and fatalistic about governmental corruption and ineptitude. Mexico has a long way to go but it is making real progress.
(Mexico is, BTW, the worldwide model for countries seeking to reform their election systems. Despite a history of corruption and politicized meddling in elections, Mexico’s Federal Election Commission has earned a strong reputation for honesty and efficiency. This achievement deserves respect. And other countries look at Mexico and say, “If they can do it, we can do it.”)
“The AU may since have done some creditable peacekeeping; I don’t know enough to evaluate that. ”
I donno… think of the recent Congo peacekeeping effort. Best I have read, the local peacekeepers might be a better band of thugs than the locals who know where their neighbors keep the goods.
There was an interesting editorial that ran in the Tallahassee Democrat By Uzodinma Iweala called [url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/13/AR2007071301714.html]Stop Trying To ‘Save’ Africa[/url] (I’ve linked it to the Washington Post) that is definately worthy of a read.