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Saturday 31 December 2016

Development Catalysts: liberation struggles or Good governance?

The quandary of effecting Eldorado developmental promises is a common dilemma in most newly politically independently countries. Birthed from a collection of peoples of different ethno-religious leanings, colonists tend not to respect existent socio-political delineations; rather choosing to delineate territories based on obnoxious treaties drafted on the colonist terms and thenceforth hobnobbing an agglomeration of peoples of divergent ethno-religious leanings into one political entity. These peoples then unite under a common cause of anti-colonial movements to achieve political independence.
By the adoption of the Atlantic Charter by foremost colonials in the United Kingdom and its subsequent metamorphoses of the United Nations Charter in 1945, colonial and occupied dominions were guaranteed self-determination and independence and as such, colonial governance became non acceptable in the international commune.
The end of the Second World War ushered in the emergence of new Nation States albeit from the shackles of colonialism in Africa and Asia. These nations were referred to as those from the backwaters of development or 3rd World Countries. Their paths to development was made more sinister by the sharp divergent bipolarity of global powers in the USA and USSR, each garnering allies and seeking new grounds to wield their socio-economic propaganda of Capitalism and Communism in proselytizing client/satellite states. As such, most emergent nation states foundered along these divergent economic paths whilst living up the realities of internal political squabbles. Hence development in most newly political emergent countries of the 20th century was torn between bipolar allegiance and internal political coherence and concord.
Whilst most Nation States of Europe, the Americas and parts of Asia emerged in their present forms no thanks to imperial ambitions, and internecine ethno-religious conflicts especially between the 17th & 19th Centuries; causing alignment of borders and wholesale population and territorial exchanges, emergence of most African and Asian States had imperial and colonial ambitions to thank for their present forms.

Source: http://aidnography.blogspot.com.ng/

Effecting development has been an intersection cataclysms and abysmal efforts in Africa as most countries are torn betwixt accepting their ascribed National identities gained from colonialism or carving new ones. Issues bothering on Governance and political administration structures are thorny and never settling as ethno-religious fears are rife and pierce the very soul of their Nationhood.
And whilst most Sub-Saharan Countries grapple with effecting the very fundamentals of development in their domains, fellow development backwater Nations of Eastern Asia have stridden, matched and now dictate developmental models globally. Aside the emergence of Western Europe and Japan from the ruins of World War Two thanks to American invented developmental models in the Marshall plan, the developmental strides of South Eastern Asian Nation states now referred to as Asian Tiger Nations present enviable models for Sub-Saharan African Nations. For in defining and creating a new world order for themselves in the ‘Non-Aligned Movement’ they rose above dereliction to developmental pace setters, never waiting for International Developmental Models such as the MDGs and SDGs to advance, but rather sought to harness their human and natural resource capitals thus becoming the manufacturing capital of the World. As such, India has dethroned USA’s Silicon Valley and techy allied sectors as the Worlds tech capital; China, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand are now the World’s manufacturing capitals as most companies would rather host their manufacturing bases in these Asiatics, and Singapore known for its entreport activities stands as the financial capital of the region. All these, while Sub-Saharan countries grapple in a continual blame game of colonial decadence, Asian Tiger Nations have now begun to carve economic hubs and niches on the African continent in series of aid packages and economic interventionism summits such as the recent China-Africa Summit and India – Africa Summit.
The political answer to the Asian revival has never until the last decade of the 20th Century been clear cut in Western terms of Democracy. Aside India which has remain a stellar beacon as the world’s most populous democracy devoid Coup d’états, most Asian tiger nations have been riddled with military interventionism’s, long periods of seeming civilian dictatorships as exemplified in the 31year rule of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew, and closed systems of political governance as exemplified in China’s communist system. Asian Tiger Nations have been able to adopt and modify suitable political systems to effect their development stratagem.
Ex-Singaporean Prime Minister and Architect of Singapore's development wonder
Source:http://edunloaded.com/insights/remembering-lee-kuan-yew/

The Asian success stories whilst congenial with the start-up background experience of colonial repression and amorphous Nationhood amalgamation as with Africa has stood tall whilst Sub-Saharan African Countries continually trade the colonial blame game. More sinisterly is the African political experience which testifies of upheavals as most colonial liberators handed the reins of power upon independence, have proved extremely clueless in the face of global dynamism. Rather, such leaders have turned themselves to power despots seeking to entrench their political positions as family hegemonies. Pernicious still is the unabated syphon of National funds into personal foreign accounts in Western domains- such is never wanton in the Asian experience. Not that corruption does not exist there but draining National coffers to Western personal accounts is least existent.
Aside the common throes of colonialism which is common to Africa and Asia, Southern African countries are emerging from Apartheid- an extreme form of White colonial subjugation which has entrenched endemic social wounds which even political independence is failing to heal. As such, whatever seems to have been gained in developmental terms during periods of White Supremacist rule is gradually falling apart in the face of black justice political movements. Healing and reparation modalities of the apartheid effect in Southern Africa remains a trillion-dollar question.
Sub-Saharan Africa like Asian tigers have colonial past to sneer at. Nevertheless, Asian tiger Nations emerged from the doldrums of development to entrench themselves as exemplary development stellars.

Going forward, the rhetorical question still reverberates; what are the catalyst for development? Colonial/Political liberation struggles or good governance typified by Western style democratic term limits? A combination of both or an evolution and adoption of something else?