AFRICA'S PLACE IN THE DEVELOPMENT SPECTRUM

This brief post looks at various indices for addressing a nation as developed and concludes that Africa is far behind developing let alone being developed. Besides economic factors, the paper highlights that human development, the environment and safety are major indices of a developed country. While not denying the potentials and abilities for rapid development, this paper argues that the social, political and more importantly, moral climate of Africa is a clog in the wheel of achieving development and that Africa does not currently have the political consolidation and improvement in governance necessary to achieve this end. Drawing examples from Nigeria, the paper highlights particular problems affecting the development of the nation. Addressing corruption, which is a not only a bane in the society but a stumbling block of any developmental project, is one of the major concerns of my cover this month. The paper finally advocates that Africa should develop in its own interest by emphasizing internal development through a commitment to political will, both by rulers and the ruled.

Development as a concept

Development can be defined as the progressive growth of something to become bigger or more advanced. Longman Advanced defines a developed country or nation as a rich industrial country, nation and so on, with a lot of business activity. By contrast, a developing country, nation, or society is a poor country that is trying to increase its industry and improve trade. When a country is found to be developing then it is assumed that it is making progress.

Countries with low levels of material and technological well-being are usually described as developing. They are also countries in which most people have a low economic standard of living. The concept of underdevelopment is that a country that is not developed is underdeveloped. However, a developing country is one that is making some progress at development. Consequently, development is about progress but while the former is negative development, the latter is positive.

The term ‘third world’ refers to the concept of political non-alignment with either the capitalist or communist bloc. It was a concept that gained ground during the Cold War to define countries that were not in line with either capitalism or communism. This became a broad definition provided to categorize the nations of the earth into three groups based on social, political and economic divisions. In other words, the term ‘third world’ arose as a political idea rather than as a term that describes a developed nation. Coincidentally, the ‘third worlds’ are also considered underdeveloped because of the low level of technological development, low gross national product (GNP), lack of industrialization and per capita income-which is the most common view of what constitutes development. It is assumed that in all that a developing nation does, it must catch up with the industrialized West.

There are various views and types of development. We have development in the areas of the economic, social, political, spiritual, educational, and scientific and so on. In short, development cuts across all areas of life. There are many development theorists, hence, we shall engage in a brief conceptual clarification of some of their ideas on development in order to relate it to the African situation.

On one hand, development can be technology based. In this regard growth theorists such as Pearson[1], state that development is partly a process whereby a country can achieve reasonable self-sustaining growth, which facilitates and enhances industrial and technical progress in the interest of the people. By this definition, a nation’s progress is measured using technological advancement. It also assumes that technological development leads automatically to the progress of the people. The advancement of technology or industrialization does not automatically lead to societal self-advancement especially if the drivers of such advancement are capitalists and profit oriented to the core.

On the other hand, development can also be linked with artifacts. Rostow for example, says that development is determined by the rate at which a country accumulates social, cultural, industrial, technical and other artifacts. The implication is that countries that do not have these artifacts are not developed. Rostow’s view, though more detailed, can be considered an extension of Pearson’s. However, in like manner, it also does not consider how the accumulation of the various artifacts leads to the development of the people.

It is also commonly assumed that development is about the economy of a nation. According to Arthur Lewis, development revolves around world-market or profit instead of man. So the level of economic indices such as per capita income, gross domestic product and so on, determines the level of development. Thus, a country with high per capita income is more developed and vice versa.

Many scholars such as Sen and Mahbub ul Haq, who played key roles in formulating the human development paradigm, came to recognize the need for an alternative development model. This was due to a number of reasons which included the following four factors. Firstly, there was the growing evidence that did not support the then prevailing belief in the ‘trickle down’ power of market forces to spread economic benefits and end poverty. Secondly, the human costs of the Structural Adjustment Program became more apparent. Thirdly, social ills (crime, weakening of social fabric, HIV/AIDS, pollution, etc.) were still spreading even in cases of strong and consistent economic growth and finally, a wave of democratization in the early 1990s raised hopes for people-centered models.

The Moral Factor in Development:

It will be grossly inadequate to say that the moral factor is the problem responsible for underdevelopment in contemporary Africa. The factors that militate against development are many. There are economic, ideological and political factors such as political instability and intrigue, lack of continuity and lack of clear and coherent ideological policies; economic factors such as level of industrialization, problem of balance of payments and international economic problems; demographical factors such as ‘brain-drain’, which is presently affecting our universities, whereby the current highly skilled migrant program and visa lotteries all drain away experts and people at the top of their chosen professions and careers; socio-religious and cultural obstacles such as tribal wars, cultural inferiority, irrational adherence to custom and tradition and disunity among states etc. Here we single out the moral factor in development. Although it is certainly an aspect of development, it must be contended that it is an all-encompassing form of development.

Morality is unique in a number of ways. It is morality that can help government to make policies capable of bringing development to the society. It is also on moral grounds that we can criticize bad governments and bad policies. It is morality that can prevent government from enacting arbitrary and socially iniquitous or inhumane laws that can deprive citizens of their fundamental human rights. It is also morality that can define duties and responsibilities of the government and citizens. But for morality we would have engaged in irrational social acts. Immanuel Kant says that an effort to be immoral is an effort to be irrational[2].

The Way Forward in the Development of Africa:

It is an understatement to say that we have not had development modules in Africa over the years. Apart from individual country’s attempts at development in terms of trade and industrialization, leading to economic growth and reflecting in economic indices such as increasing GNP, there are also attempts at securing foreign aid, particularly the raising of funds from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and The World Bank to enhance developmental projects.

There has also been an attempt by Africa as a continent to come together to discuss and solve developmental problems. The Organization of African Unity (OAU), Economic Commission of West Africa (ECOWAS) and African Union, with its peer-review mechanism, are attempts in this direction. Suffice to say that most of these initiatives both at the internal and external levels have begotten the monster of colonialism, neo-colonialism, imperialism and most importantly corruption. Thus, there is an urgent need to secure the conditions for political stability in most African states. In this sense there is a need to develop on the side of the leaders but also on the side of the people. Commitment is needed on both sides, that is, a will to organize the society in other to achieve human development.

The factor of the group mind with corporate social responsibility is essential to development. At this level, the masses also need to fight corruption too. Within the limits of this blog paper, the way forward to Africa’s development can be highlighted in the following ways:

Firstly, there is a need to terminate imperialism by rejecting dependence on foreign aid and develop from within. This will make our development internal. Baah, in his analyses of the history of development, highlights some initiatives in Africa add considered the ones made from within and not from without as the most effective and beneficial to human development in Africa. According to him, country owned initiatives designed and implemented by African countries rather than the ones designed for Africa have yielded more developmental goals[3]. He argues that Africa should not continue to deceive itself.

Rather, Africa should take her destiny into her own hands and develop her own policies based on the needs of her people. Africa’s future lies in her own ability to take bold development initiatives. Africa’s future does not lie in spurious and neo-colonial partnerships. McBride in this regard makes an urgent call for Africa to develop in its own interest, which is crucial here[4]. This is a type of development that considers not just mere growth, but the emancipation of the people. This again is where the human development indices are relevant and meaningful.

Secondly, our leaders should also be morally sound by showing good examples. As shown earlier, this is lacking in contemporary Africa and it is one reason for its failure. Our leaders most of the time get to power because they are wealthy economically, not morally and they use their wealth to buy others over. Political leadership is required to both set an example and to demonstrate that no-one is above the law by setting a high profile focus on specific actions which can be extremely useful in sending a strong signal that corruption will not be tolerated. To achieve social stability our planners and policy makers should evolve urgent educational policies that emphasize the moral, rather than the economic, aspect of development.

Thirdly, we can also view corruption as a learned behavior and what is learnt act can be unlearned, through some forms of situational and environmental manipulations such as reinforcements and public enlightenment campaigns. This will enable Africans learn to appreciate social values and change their orientation through moral value judgments.

Fourthly, the issue of National Identity and patriotism, which is a subject for further research, is also crucial. There is no doubt that the destruction of our economic and political structures due to colonialism and modernization has destroyed our culture. There is a loss of cultural, national, political and collective identity. However modernization needs not necessarily mean obliteration of all elements of traditional culture. Modern African identity does not have to reject aspects of traditional culture which are useful, but it can take note of the good aspects and do a critical and reconstructive self-evaluation. In this sense whatever evolves will not be out of cultural traditionalism but will be an authentic identity based on a conscious and deliberate effort and is a reflection of both the new and old ideals of life.

CONCLUSION

I have attempted to show that the emphasis on technological and economic development is a narrow and unacceptable view of development. I have also established that of all the various types of development, the moral is very important as a variable in the development of Africa. With regard to contemporary Africa there are a number of factors hindering its development, the principal of which bothers on the moral. A number of concrete steps have been highlighted and it is my fervent hope that we start from there in other to achieve the desired goals of true development in contemporary Africa and to contribute to world politics.

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[1] Pearson, L.B., 1970. The Crisis of Development. London: Pall Mall Press, p p: 5.

[2] Kant, I., 1974. Fundamental Principles of Metaphysic of Morals. In Introductory Readings in Ethics, Eds., W. Frankena and J. T. Granrose, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, pp: 113.

[3] Baah, A., “History of African Development Initiatives” http://www.sarpn.org/document/d0000407/P373_Baah.pdf. Accessed 30th, September.

[4] McBride, R.H., 1978. How Can Africa Develop in Its own Interest? A Journal of Opinion, 8(4): 30-34.