From poverty to power - Oxfam-Québec

FROM POVERTY TO POWERI RULE, THEREFORE I AMIn the early 1960s, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerlyZaire) had a national income per capita twice that of South Korea. Bothcountries had hungry, illiterate populations; both received substantialUS aid; both were devastated by conflict. Since then, Korea has becomeone of the great development success stories of recent times, transformingthe lives of its people, while the DRC has slid further into economicdecline and civil war.In large part,this divergence can be put down to thepresence or absence of an effective, development-oriented state.Even though in historical terms the state is a comparatively recentcreation, it is hard to imagine successful development without it.States ensure the provision of health, education, water, and sanitation;they guarantee rights, security, the rule of law, and social and economicstability; they regulate, develop, and upgrade the economy. A centralchallenge for development is to build states that are both effective andaccountable.The state is not the only source of authority. In many countries,traditional structures of chiefs, elders, clans, and churches sit alongsideformal state systems of governors and mayors, while civil societyand the private sector are additional sources of power. In some places,the state’s writ barely extends beyond the capital city. Nor is the natureof the state static, which is perhaps just as well, as its origins are oftenbloody. In the words of social historian Charles Tilly, ‘war made thestate and the state made war’. 12790