Leapfrogging Possibilities For Sustainable Consumption and ...

economic and social point of view. Hence leapfrogging helps to tunnel into the beyondpeak-part
of the path.
Leapfrogging in this context makes sense as it is attached to a societal function or service
for which a new way of provision is developed and/or implemented. Leapfrogging can’t
fully be understood without characterising its three aspects namely, the take-off baseline
condition, the path and the landing platform.
The first aspect is covers questions like where is the society or community leaping from?
How did the situation look like before the leaping happens? How were the services or
functions to be produced through the new mechanism of delivery to the community or
region under consideration channelled before the leapfrogging?
The second aspect associated with the path dimension pose the following questions: what
are the current widespread mechanisms of delivery of the same services and functions in
well established economies of the world. What were and are the historical conventional
steps that led to these current mechanisms? Which of these conventional steps are being
bypassed by undergoing leapfrogging? What is the type of development expected to
happen under ordinary circumstances in the absence of leapfrogging? Is the new
arrangement a leap relative to what is currently dominant worldwide or relative to the
reality in the specific area or region of implementation?
The third aspect related to the landing platform dimension can be characterized through
questions such as: what is result of the leapfrogging? What kinds of gains is it leading to
when it comes to the production and delivery of the services and functions? What is the
sustainability dimension of this gain compared to the conventional development? Is it the
economic sustainability, socially sustainability or ecologically sustainability or all three
elements of sustainability that are resulting from the leapfrogging?
With this framework of analysis as an inspiration, it is possible to assess some examples
of worldwide and African cases of leapfrogging.
4.3 Examples of Cases of leapfrogging
Leapfrogging cases in the information and communication technologies (ICT) are found
in Africa, South Pacific, India, Latin America, China, Eastern Europe, and Russia. The
rapid expansion of mobile phones, relative to landlines, associated to the relative easiness
of installing cellular towers in China, India and African countries is a commonly cited
example of leapfrogging.
The following section provides three examples of cases that can be interpreted as
leapfrogging showcases from the world. The next section highlights on Africa.
4.3.1 Worldwide
The following are few examples of the leapfrogging cases that can be mention
worldwide. They represent areas of biofuel, ICT, solar power as well as iron and steel
manufacturing covering from Brazil to South Korea.
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