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These countries demonstrate "a willingness to depart from the conventional wisdom of the day and experiment with their own remedies." Sounds like a startup ment
by candre717 16y ago
These countries demonstrate "a willingness to depart from the conventional wisdom of the day and experiment with their own remedies." Sounds like a startup mentality in a diplomatic setting. It's interesting to note as well the author's observation on the lack of democratic progress in these countries. I think the reason that the tone of the article is that of surprise is that these countries think and act differently from Western counterparts. It is hard to imagine progress can impact others who don't follow the same principles as yourself.
- rdtsc 16y agoI am wondering if by "wisdom of the day" he means the standard IMF and World Bank policy + loan packets for developing countries, that often lead to an increase of GDP but a decrease or stagnation of social indices. As for "democratization" , it seems somehow there is the unspoken assumption that a country has to go through it and it should the first on the list. It usually comes along with liberalization of the markets to the outside products and companies. My guess is that most people in developing countries would rather quickly opt for access to healthcare, education, jobs, low crime rate, and peace, even if it means losing democracy.
- eru 16y agoDemocracy is actually not that important. At least for smallish countries, I'd say. Singapore, Hong Kong, and, say, early Britain did fine without democracy. The rule of law and proper markets strike me as much more important. They do often go hand in hand with democracy, though.