From poverty to power - Oxfam-Québec

FROM POVERTY TO POWERthe turn of the twentieth century, such market fundamentalism hassubsided and, to differing degrees, aid donors and the Washingtoninstitutions have turned their attention to how to ensure that states areeffective and accountable, rather than absent.How can states best deliver development? One thing is clear. TheNobel prize-winning scientist Linus Pauling once remarked,‘The bestway to have good ideas is to have lots of ideas, and then to discard thebad ones’. The same holds true for states. Successful institutions evolveout of specific national realities, and successful states evolve by doing,failing, and learning, not by importing institutions or policies fromelsewhere.Despite the widespread assumption in the North that developingcountries lag behind Europe and North America along a historicalcontinuum, the political cultures of most poor countries are anythingbut young. Many are based on ancient religious and cultural traditionsthat are reflected in their political institutions. Geoff Mulgan, who wasan adviser to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, observes that while theWest emphasises the structures of good government – for example,institutional checks and balances on power – other traditions fromChina and India have richer insights into how moral principles can beinternalised in the minds of rulers and officials. Witness East Asia’sstrong tradition of meritocratic civil service and the cultivationof learning, both based on Confucian ideals, in part to prevent theformation of permanent elites. 133Many lessons can be learned from studying the most successfuldeveloping countries in recent years, ‘Asian tigers’ such as Taiwan,South Korea,Singapore,Malaysia,Viet Nam,China,and others.Althoughthese countries differ hugely in size, economy, and politics, they haveseveral common features that suggest what an economically successfulstate needs to do:Govern for the future: Governments and officials in these states wereintent on transforming the country, rather than merely achievingshort-term results or skimming off wealth for a few individuals. Civilservants were largely selected on merit rather than because of personal orparty connections.92