[This article tries to reason why some countries are rich while others are poor. This map is very interesting. It may serve as a basis of racism .]
Most rich countries are in the North of the globe, and most poor countries are in the South, but it’s not geography that causes wealth or poverty. After all, Australia and New Zealand are part of the Southern hemisphere, and both are doing fine. You couldn’t say this of Papua New Guinea, which is the Asian country closest to Australia and New Zealand.
A superficial view is to blame racial differences. Black Africa is the poorest and most disordered part of the world, and Haiti, with an almost entirely black population, is the poorest country of the Americas. But the coincidence is accidental.
What makes some countries rich, and others prone to poverty is not related to skin color or racial factors. Many immigrants from poor nations do very well in the US and Canada (though one has to admit that both countries are likely to make immigration easy only for the best and the brightest of those who hail from Third World countries).
It is also not the presence or lack of natural resources what makes a country rich or poor in the long run. Japan is a country with very limited natural resources, and it has been the richest country in Asia for a long time. On the other hand, it is easy to predict that some Third World countries that currently are rich because of immense reserves of natural wealth while not being burdened with large populations, will slide back when the natural resources are depleted.
But why are the people of some countries doing well, in spite of the destruction brought by lost wars, and in spite of the lack of natural resources, or an unfavorable climate?
It’s wrong to search for just one answer. There are many aspects that determine how well, or haw badly, a country will fare economically.
Some aspects relate to the attitudes of people. Other aspects are just of a matter of the political system (think North and South Korea). And I assume that in the coming world, with an ever higher degree of globalization, providing a favorable political and social environment will become ever more relevant.
Educational systems certainly play a role. Richer countries typically have better educational systems, and the discrepancy normally reaches back more than just a generation or two.
Furthermore, in some cultures, parents and the society put more value on education than in others. Societies that have been influenced by Confucian teaching, from Singapore to Korea, will likely feature more educational drill than, for example, Islamic societies.
I cannot, and don’t want to attempt to, list all the aspects that determine whether a country is relatively rich or relatively poor. I really only want to discuss some aspects that have come to my mind.
THE COMMON GOOD
One aspect that determines the likelihood of economic success in a given society is the emphasis, or lack of emphasis, that is put, on the common good.
A cultural mentality that emphasizes self-sacrifice for the common good has played a major role in the economic development of Japan and other East Asian nations in the second part or the 20th century.
From the perspective of the individual with advanced self-cognition, emphasizing the common good (and therefore solidarity) sometimes makes sense, and sometimes it doesn’t. When emphasizing the common good results in an advantage for the individual during his life time, it is philosophically sound for the individual to act in solidarity. When such an advantage cannot be derived during a person’s lifetime, or when such an advantage cannot be realistically expected, it makes better philosophical sense for the individual to emphasize his own good, an not the common good.
ETHNIC HOMOGENITY
Psychological factors depend, for example, on the ethnic fabric of a country. If a society is ethnically homogenous to a very high degree (as are, for example, Japan and South Korea), it will be more likely that individuals will strongly identify with the community, and thus be willing to emphasize the common good.
The lack of ethnic homogeneity, to a certain degree, explains why the economies of countries of sub-Saharan Africa fare so poorly. Africa is by far the ethnically most fractionated continent of the earth, and practically no country there has boundaries that match ethnic territories. The people primarily identify with their clans, and beyond their clans, they identify with their ethnic relatives (by and large those who speak the same language). People don’t identify with their central governments, and not even with the organizational structures of the town they live in. This creates an atmosphere that isn’t conducive to economic development. Hence, these countries are poor and will likely stay poor.
IDENTIFICATION WITH TRADITIONAL AUTHORITIES
Countries with respected traditional authorities are in a better position. In countries like Thailand and Japan, where old monarchies are revered, they contribute to the identification of individual members of society with a common good, represented by the monarchy. By contrast, many of the poorest countries of the world are so-called republics where there isn’t even a respected presidency.
Yes, there are numerous other factors that determine economic success; but other factors being equal or just comparable, the degree to which the individual members of emphasize the common good reliably predicts how well a society will fare economically.
ROAD TRAFFIC AS INDICATOR
One can measure the degree to which, in daily life, the individual members of a society value the common good through a simple indicator: road traffic
When a large number of participants in road traffic are willing to give way because it makes sense for traffic flow overall, people uphold the common good versus individual advantages. The opposite is a me-first attitude, even at red lights. Traffic chaos indicates little respect for the common good, as well as the inability of the authorities to implement rules of the common good against me-first traffic participants. Either way, traffic chaos indicates a decreased likelihood for successful economic development, while countries in which road traffic discipline is observed will usually do much better.
Traffic discipline is excellent in Northern Europe and North America, which goes hand in hand with countries in these locations being the richest in the world. Traffic discipline is better in Bangkok than in Manila or Jakarta, which is in line with the development progress in the respective countries over the past decades. Traffic rules are largely ignored in much of sub-Saharan Africa.
OVER-EMPHASIZING THE COMMON GOOD
I have indicated above that societies are all the more likely to prosper the more its members are willing to emphasize the common good over individual advantage, even to the point of self-sacrifice, which, from the perspective of self-cognition, is wrong.
Unfortunately, Christianity and Islam have both heavily benefited from the willingness of its disciples to give their lives for the ideals of their religions.
No comments:
Post a Comment