My Beauty Best Teacher

The Swiss recently celebrated the digging of a $10 billion, 35.4-mile (57-kilometer) tube will connect Europe's high-speed rail network to various valleys and low lying areas of Switzerland, without having to use trucks to go over the Alps. This is a mighty accomplishment, but what was intriguing about it was the way that it was done- Swiss voters approved the tunnel's construction in a series of referendums almost 20 years ago, where despite some criticism at the cost — almost $1,300 for every citizen — the proposal passed by a wide margin.

"Today proves how sustainable, strong and efficient our direct democracy is," Swiss Transport Minister Moritz Leuenberger told miners, VIPs and reporters amid the raucous underground celebrating as the huge drill broke through the last stretch of rock deep in the Swiss Alps.

Direct democracy is a form of democracy which sovereignty is lodged in the assembly of all citizens who choose to participate. Depending on the particular system, this assembly might pass executive motions, make laws, elect or dismiss officials, and conduct trials. Direct democracy stands in contrast to representative democracy, where sovereignty is exercised by a subset of the people, usually on the basis of election. In America, we have elements of direct democracy in the form of initiatives, referendums, and recalls, but mostly our nation relies on electing officials who then make decisions for us.

After watching the disasters of the last several decades, where more and more political power is accumulated in the national government and representatives increasingly represent larger and larger population groups, I have to wonder if our system works any more. It isn't working any more like our founding fathers designed it- direct election of senators, fixed number of Representatives, vast expansion of federal government, etc- so it shouldn't offend conservatives to question our present system. Perhaps it is the system that is broken, and a radical new fix is required?

Via wikipedia's entry on Direct Democracy:

In Switzerland, single majorities are sufficient at the town, city, and canton level, but at the national level, double majorities are required on constitutional matters. The intent of the double majorities is simply to ensure any citizen-made law's legitimacy.

Double majorities are, first, the approval by a majority of those voting, and, second, a majority of cantons in which a majority of those voting approve the ballot measure. In 1890, when the provisions for Swiss national citizen lawmaking were being debated by civil society and government, the Swiss copied the idea of double majorities from the United States Congress, in which House votes were to represent the people and Senate votes were to represent the states. According to its supporters, this "legitimacy-rich" approach to national citizen lawmaking has been very successful. Switzerland has had tandem successes both socially and economically which are matched by only a few other nations, and that the United States is not one of them.

Did you catch that? Originally, the Swiss copied our system, and have since been very happy with it, but here in America, the progressives (early liberals) changed our system and since then, our nation has been increasingly unhappy with our system and the laws it passes, both by Republicans and Democrats. Double majorities and direct democracy may be the direction that our nation should go in the future to achieve more legitimate government.

How might this look and how might this be implemented in that United States? Well, the easiest place to start would be to conduct a constitutional convention at the state level and go about testing this idea at the state level, whereby a state would invest political power in both county level government and state level government, which would both have veto power over any proposed legislation of state-wide importance. Of course state authorities would have responsibility for day-to-day management of the state, but major legislation (raising of taxes, new executive agencies, legalization of drugs, major regulation of healthcare or energy industries, building of new major transportation lines, etc) would be required to pass a double majority of both state government (which could be unicameral) and a majority of county governments (which also could be unicameral). This would increase the legitimacy of laws that were passed in a given state and ensure that citizens were engaged and supportive of any major laws passed by the state.

Our founding fathers knew that local government and limited government were important to in the creation of laws that the people supported and believed in, and yet over the years our government has become increasingly illegitimate, both with the engagement of the United States in unpopular wars and the more recent passage of unpopular legislation such as Obamacare, the stimulus bill, and budget bills. Our nation might need an example or inspiration for change, and we've learned it can't come from the election of one person and that structural changes are needed- perhaps Switzerland's direct democracy system, modified and adopted by a US state, could serve as that basis.

Suggested book to read related to this post: The Referendum: Direct Democracy in Switzerland.

UPDATE: Saw a post by John Woo called Repeal the 17th Amendment. I'm all for it, and I think this latest line of thought about providing for a double majority is fascinating. At the very least, state governments should pass a law requesting that their federal senators appear monthly in front of the state legislators and discuss what they've been up to. It might serve some positive purpose on making Senators justify their paychecks, since they have a term so long that people lose track of exactly what they do with all that time.

Issa G. Shivji argues that:

The state itself has to be reformed and restructured. The despotic colonial and the authoritarian post-colonial state cannot play a popular developmental role. Its limits have been reached. The reformed state must have its roots in the people and must seek legitimacy from the people. It must seek a new social consensus and build its legitimacy not only on the economic terrain – development – but also on the political and legal terrain of popular participation, freedoms, rights and stable constitutional orders...Africa has to go beyond liberal to social democracy which would address not only the question of formal equality but that of social justice and equity as well...The experience of the liberalisation of the state over the last couple of decades does not inspire confidence or hope. Popular democracy, grassroots democracy , local democracy, new democracy, etc. are the new concepts being discussed and debated.

via Pambazuka

Tostan News reports on the evolution of local democracy, "...Respondents very much wanted to expand on the issue of human rights and to examine the conditions, even the kind of society, in which these could be more durably ensured. The term “democracy” surfaced on a number of occasions, overheard from national political discourse, but no one was too sure exactly what it meant. Staff resolved therefore to try out a training sequence that would use “democracy” as a cover term for the kind of social arrangements under which human rights could be effectively guaranteed and people of all groups and ages could play an active role in determining their own destiny. The module that resulted from these months of effort included information, discussion, role-playing and applied activities all focusing on what human rights society must protect, how individual and group values are balanced, by what means those who have been deprived of rights can assert them, how conflict is healed, and the sort of governance strategies such goals require. Organizers found it worthwhile to go back to the root meaning of “democracy” (in Greek: government by the people) and to facilitate widespread discussion of just what this implied and how it related to the assertion of human rights and the resolution of conflict..."

How do we evolve grassroots democracy with regional characteristics? Hierarchical systems within most of Sub-Saharan Africa have proven to be almost completely removed from the citizens they claim to govern, the following statements/initiatives offer varying perspectives on the subject, firstly Fred Foldvary suggests that:

Democracy must start small. Each village and city neighborhood elects a local council. These would be the cells of the political body. Where a traditional clan leadership is in place, it would be recognized as the local authority. The cell would be small enough so that the people can hold meetings and know the candidates personally. There would be no need for large amounts of campaign money.

While an effort in Puntland Somalia, emphasizes the devolving of power:

Decentralisation of government by devolving decision making down to the lowest constituencies is a fundamental principle of the Puntland administration. Evidence shows that smaller, more local bodies are generally more efficient, but also that taking the process of decision making down to the community level gives rise to a more responsive organization on the one hand, and greater community involvement and buy-in on the other.

Hu Jintao building on the "Democracy with Chinese characteristics" model proposes that:

The most effective and extensive way for the people to be masters of the country is that they directly exercise their democratic rights in accordance with the law to manage public affairs and public service programs at the primary level, practice self-management, self-service, self-education and self-oversight, and exercise democratic oversight over cadres. Such practices must be emphasized and promoted as the groundwork for developing socialist democracy.

In summation we can postulate the need for indigenous, adaptive, fractal governing systems that are imbued with continuous reactive input from a representative citizenry.

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• Democracy Gains Amid Turmoil
• Behold the New Africa

The IDEA outlines a number of reasons for decentralizing democracy:

• Decentralized governance is critical for initiating and sustaining participatory decision making and accountable management systems that permit communities to meet their own goals for development at the local level within the framework of nationally articulated economic and social programmes.

• It helps to deepen the commitment of countries to democratic governance and increase the legitimacy of national governments, including those just emerging from conflict. In addition, the role of regional and local governments have become important as the basic training ground for the citizenry in democratic problem solving as well as developing local politicians for the national arena.

Michael Hendrix in CIPE:

A new generation of authoritarians is creating “decorative democracies,” where pre-determined elections allow the state to co-opt the legitimacy of liberty without the substance to support it. At the grassroots, democracy holds little meaning. People are told that they are living in a democracy, but everything around them belies the trappings of fairness and liberty. This result is often achieved by touting economic success, as well as belittling civic institutions and the disaggregated nature of democracy...The greatest response to decorative democracy lies in nurturing local civil societies from the ground up, laying the foundation for institutions responsive to the voice of reform. CIPE helps local private sector organizations across the globe to institutionalize the democratic process – supporting the very characteristics that set true democracies apart from the merely decorative ones...[continue reading]

Kabasubabu Katulondi writes "...The onus remains on African leaders at all levels. The “blame it on imperialists and colonisers” excuse has lost credibility. My deepest conviction is that democracy is a system and democratisation is a process: the way to build both is by using local ingenuity and drawing on the universal heritage, without altering the essence of democracy as a humanist project. Almost a half-century after independence, sub-Saharan Africans still face the tremendous challenge of building industrial societies and creating democracy as their superstructure..."

Over the last several days conservative bloggers and journalists reacted swiftly and decisively in condemning, subduing, and fighting liberal bloggers and journalists were spreading a false narrative about the shootings in Arizona, and now that that is done (excepting the few liberal bloggers and media members who are just determined to use dead people as props in their little political games), our nation can move on to mourning the fallen and celebrating the lives of those who were killed. In that spirit, I'm going to celebrate with this post Congresswoman's Gabrielle Giffords commitment to democracy.

By all accounts, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was a strong supporter of democracy in our nation and believed that it was important for members of the House of Representatives to regularly meet with constituents and hold many town hall meetings. Sadly, it was her strong belief in being accessible that may have played a factor in her being shot, but to be honest, we all run the risk every day that some sicko is going to randomly walk in and start shooting. Although it is reasonable to have a discussion on increasing protection for high-profile people like Congressmen and Congresswomen, we have to be careful that they continue to be accessible and close to the people of our great nation, or else the 'peope's house' will be insulated from the public and that'll be a bad thing for our nation. Congresswoman Giffords said so, and I agree with her strongly on that.

One great feature of our nation is that our elected leaders are so accessible to most voters- many members of Congress (mine excepted) hold town halls, 'meet your Congresswoman' days, bring in local business leaders for roundtable discussions, and work on other ways to find out what sort of laws, regulations, and policies that their district favors. Members of the House know that the only way they can legitimacy get elected (providing they don't run an expensive smear campaign funded by out of state interest groups like my Congressman Gary Peters did) is by the support and guidance and authority of the people they represent. Giffords did this, regularly meeting with people in her district, holding town halls and other events, and it is for this reason that she was able to win several terms of office in a swing district that was targeted by both the right and left.

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is a great example of a Representative who does the hard work necessary in their district to talk to voters and connect with them, and although I disagree with many of her votes in Congress, I pray for her and wish her a speedy recovery so that she can continue her fine work in Congress and she can once more engage in the spirited debate on the nature of government in America that makes our democracy so vibrant and great.

Jerome Booth writes in Yahoo finance:

Africa's lack of globalization is evident in its unbalanced financing structure. State-controlled aid money dominates public finance in Africa in spite of improvements in macroeconomic policies, spreading democracy, and supportive commodity prices. Recent growth in local currency debt issuance is welcome, but foreign demand is rapidly exhausting local capacity to absorb selling, with potential destabilizing macro­economic implications if issuance continues unabated. Meanwhile, Sub-Saharan Africa remains the last great region of the world not to issue external sovereign bonds at all...Potential corporate bond issuance in Africa is maybe 10 times the sovereign (government) financing needs, but – and here is the rub – without a sovereign bond curve, the potential corporate issuers cannot issue as they cannot price sovereign risk. The bond market has far more capacity to finance Africa's development needs than aid, but bond markets need to lend to governments first. A balanced financing structure would replace aid-financed central government budget support with global bonds to sit alongside moderate local currency issuance and conventional aid flows.

Sociolingo reports on an ongoing debate regarding The Mande Charter described as a Magna Carter for Africa.It is a document that "is presented by its promoters as a “hidden treasury”; from the West African past. It is already the basis for claims of endogenous origins of modern concepts (decentralisation, local democracy, environment conservation, feminism, human rights, cultural diversity, welfare state)"

Over at No Left Turns I spotted this interesting post (originally from The Volokh Conspiracy):

Montana's staunchly pro-Second Amendment Governor, Democrat Brian Schweitzer, has signed Montana HB 246, the Montana Firearms Freedom Act. The bill declares that a firearm which is manufactured in Montana, and never leaves the State of Montana, "is not subject to federal law or federal regulation, including registration, under the authority of congress to regulate interstate commerce. It is declared by the legislature that those items have not traveled in interstate commerce."

Will this mean anything? Most likely, no. The courts will probably use their imperial power of royal decree to force this democratically elected representative of the people to follow the liberal line- mostly likely by applying Wickard v. Filburn or some other court case.

Still, it does show that in spite of the DHS believing that those who support federalism are right-wing extremists, the tide may be going back in favor of federalism as people realize again the wisdom of our founding fathers. The Governor of Texas Rick Perry recently said at a Tea Party that federalism needs to be strengthened in this nation, and I agree with him.

This issue isn't so much political as practical: federalism diffuses political power, reducing the chance of tyranny and improving protection of individual rights; federalism lets local governments deal with local problems, not remote bureaucracies; federalism allows more people to get involved in the democractic process- more offices, more levels of government, more people can get involved- so that our country is not run by unelected bureaucrats, and federalism allows for experimentation and innovation in public policy- more units of government can try innovative solutions to societies problems (laboratories of democracy stuff). This is why federalims should be supported.

• Too Much, the Magic Bus! - Arlington, VA, United States, ASCD EDge Blog post

  Excellent post from my friend Walter at ASCD about innovation and how to build success for your program. A great read.

  tags: education innovation change

• MCA school board votes down international trip - News - News Item

  This makes me livid. My friend Suzie Nestico's students cannot come to Beijing at this point but the reasons stated are totally off base:
  
  1) "Why can't they just watch it on a big screen?"
  The time zone is 12 hours difference and this is a project-based learning conference. Students will not only learn about technology but will envision and develop future projects for global collaboration as they participate with some of the best minds in the business.
  
  2) This is just a paid vacation to China!
  This perhaps makes me most angry of all! If someone is going to China on vacation - you wouldn't go in February!1 We are going to a local school that is hosting us and this was the most convenient time for them and to get local participation.
  
  3) Let's keep the money at home.
  Rather than this small town having students and a teacher who understand how to work in one of the most rapidly growing markets in the world (China) they are choosing to stay at home and remain oblivious to the opportunities that exist.
  
  4) They are not going for a competition
  yes, they are - there is a competition. But the difference is that you are paired with three other students from three other countries. This year, we have an environmental focus as we work to design how students would benefit from collaborating globally on environmentally sensitive issues.
  
  Yes, times are tough. Yes, it seems to only benefit a few. However, as we push towards globalization one step at a time we have to get out of our comfort zone for the future of our small towns and communities.
  
  I could go on and it saddens me that these were just looking for a reason to say no. Of course, in a democracy they have a right to do this and it is ok. This is not a permanent setback, I just wish they had made this decision before they told her to go ahead and raise the money. This sort of vacillation can snuff out teacher motivation to try things that are new. Passports had already been stamped.

  tags: education flatclassroom

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

William Easterly writes on the rebirth of utopianism"...it is in 2005 that utopia seems to have made its big breakthrough into mainstream discourse. In March, Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs, celebrity economist and intellectual leader of the utopians, published a book called The End of Poverty, in which he called for a big push of increased foreign aid to meet the Millennium Development Goals and end the miseries of the poor...British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown likewise called in January for a major increase in aid, a “Marshall Plan” for Africa. Brown was so confident he knew how to save the world’s poor that he even called for borrowing against future aid commitments to finance massive increases in aid today...We have already seen the failure of comprehensive utopian packages in the last two decades: the failure of “shock therapy” to convert the former Soviet Union from communism to capitalism and the failure of IMF/World Bank “structural adjustment” to transform nations in Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America into free-market paragons. All of these regions have suffered from poor economic growth since utopian efforts began...With all the political and popular support for such ambitious programs, why then do comprehensive packages almost always fail to accomplish much good, much less attain Utopia? They get the political and economic incentives all wrong. The biggest problem is that the rich people paying the bills do not share the same goals as the poor people they are trying to help...ree markets and democracy are far from an overnight solution to poverty—they require among many other things the bottom-up evolution of the rules of the game, including contract enforcement and fair political competition. Nor can democratic capitalism be imposed by outsiders (as the World Bank, IMF, and U.S. Army should now have learned). The evolution of markets and democracy took many decades in rich countries, and it did not happen through “big pushes” by outsiders...The problems of the poor nations have deep institutional roots at home, where markets don’t work well and politicians and civil servants aren’t accountable to their citizens. That makes utopian plans even more starry-eyed, as the “big push” must ultimately rely on dysfunctional local institutions..."
Via Bullets and Honey

Robert Pringle writes about the burgeoning civil society and strengthening democracy in Mali:

Malians have redefined the term “consensus” to comport with the decentralization model. Whereas under the dictatorship “consensus” meant African-style democratic centralism, often smacking of communist practice, today it is understood to suggest reaching compromise on tough issues—more in the mode of Daniel Webster than Vladimir Lenin...Malians say that their history and culture have nourished interethnic tolerance. They cite a whole tool kit of conflict resolution and avoidance mechanisms...Mali’s new decentralization has created a three-tiered system: regions (think states), circles (think counties), and communes, which usually comprise several villages. Commune inhabitants elect local councils, which choose their own mayors and send representatives to the two higher tiers of the system. The 702 rural communes are widely regarded as the backbone of Malian democratization...The most striking thing about Malian democracy is its success in drawing intellectual and spiritual sustenance from an epic past, and actively incorporating homegrown elements, such as decentralization. If there is occasional fiddling with historical truth, the past provides plenty of room for differing viewpoints and for shaping tradition to meet modern needs. It is this aspect of the Malian experience that is least appreciated, and it deserves more attention from policymakers, both African and foreign, who have a tendency to assume that “tradition” equates with “bad.”

via 3quarksdaily

photo courtesy cr.nps.gov

Featuring Candi Peterson, blogger in residence

This year I'm getting off to kind of a slow start- for example, just yesterday I got my new Franklin planner pages and figured out what is going on for this month and this year. This post is another example- my obligatory 'best of' post. 2011 was a good year for my blog- readership is way up and lots of radio and newspaper interviews were set up- and there were a lot of great posts from which to choose from, so I basically just went with the numbers. Some of you are new regular readers and might have missed these, and my usual readers will also enjoy reading some of these posts again. So here you go, the Best Posts of A Conservative Teacher 2011:

How I Helped Mary Beth Hicks Write her Book 'Don't Let the Kids Drink the Kool-Aid'

Many of you know that I have been interviewed by newspapers (Detroit News) and by major radio shows (Larry Eldar Show) and some of you have even tuned in to hear me occasionally co-host a radio program (Total Education Hour), but it may surprise you all to know that I have also been a part of a major best-selling book- Don't Let the Kids Drink the Kool-Aid: Confronting the Left's Assault on Our Families, Faith, and Freedom by Mary Beth Hicks...

The rest of the post is about how I helped out Mary Beth Hicks- although again, I did very little other than nudge her in a direction. You really all should pick up her book- it's great.

Yulia Tymoshenko, former PM of Ukraine, is Now in Prison for Political Differences

For some reason, my blog has been getting very popular in Ukraine recently- after the US, the second largest source of readers of my blog is coming from Ukraine over the past month, and all-time, Ukraine is the 5th biggest nation of readers of my blog. Why Ukraine? Perhaps it stems from a post I wrote in January 15, 2010 supporting Yulia Tymoshenko for President of Ukraine...

The rest of the post is about Mrs. Tymoshenko, who is a pro-democracy former businesswomen who rejected the communist approach of keeping the masses poor while the elites proposer, so the elites manipulated the voting processes and the masses to defeat her, and then they turned around and imprisoned her and likely will kill her while she is in prison.

Evaluating the Leadership of Obama and Romney Using Howard Putnam's Principles of Leadership

...Yesterday I heard some more about leadership from Howard Putnam at the Get Motivated Business Seminar that was held in Auburn Hills (see my post Get Motivated Business Seminar Review: Powell, Giuliani, Cosby, Putnam, Walsh, and More! for my full review). Mr. Putnam rose through the ranks at Southwest Airlines to become CEO of the company, where he led it to great profitability and success. According to Putnam, there are several principles of leadership. Let's look at each one, and then evaluate whether Obama, Romney, or I follow these rules on how to be an effective leader:...

The rest of the post looks at Obama and Romney and evaluates their leadership in light of the principles that Putnam laid out.

America will Realign Towards the Tea Party in 2012; Write it Down in Stone

...In my post NYT's Douthat is Wrong: Realigning Elections Exist and One is Coming I countered an argument that was advanced by the New York Times Ross Douthat where he claimed that Harvard Professor V.O. Key's theory on realigning elections was wrong. Douthat thought that 2008 was supposed to the be realigning election, and now that we can all see that it was not, he has become disillusioned with the theory that Key advanced in his iconic essay “A Theory of Critical Elections” and now thinks that elections that change America's direction are no longer possible. But he is wrong. In my post Why 2008 Was Not a Historic or Realigning Election (written in 2009) I addressed Key's theory of realigning elections and looked back on the election of 2008 and looked forward to 2012....

This post is one of my more educated posts- I pull from political science and pundits and election data to project 2012 as a re-aligning election that will be dominated by the Tea Party (in Congress).

USA Today Is Wrong- 58.5% of Americans Have Jobs, not 45.4% as Reported

...But I have some issues with this data. According to my own analysis of the information provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, showing the employment-population ratio from 1988 to 2011 (seasonally adjusted), the number of people employed in our nation is holding steady at a new-normal post-Obama post-recovery number of 58.5%...

This post has been updated from time to time- and in spite of the supposed 'recoveries', the number of employed in our nation has actually gone down. Go to the post and you can link to the numbers yourself and see just what the 'new normal' of employed is under Obama and the Democrats.

Increase the Number of Representatives in the House? An Argument in Favor.

...In my post 1930's Are Root of All That is Wrong I wrote that "At one time, I thought the 1930's were at the root of all that is wrong about America, and compiled a list of all of the laws and taxes and liberal decisions passed during that time." That post contained a list of all of those bad laws that came out of that time of fascism and communism and war and depression and collapsing social values. But one law that I left off that list was the Reapportionment Act of 1929, which established a permanent method for apportioning a now constant 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives according to each census, essentially capping the number of Representatives at 435...

This post goes on to argue in favor of increasing the number of Representatives in the US House. Yeah, if I were in charge we'd move past the cartoonish arguments that Republicans and Democrats are currently having in the political world and really start getting to the root of bringing our nation back towards conservative principles. Check out this post and get educated.

The Story of a Bear named 'Bearack Obama' and How Liberal Policies Are Affecting His Brother Bears Too

...According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, there are even reports of a black bear that has recently taken to sitting every day at the picnic table, apparently waiting to be fed. He also has refused to dig out his own winter den, forcing government employees to do so. Although the bear once was self-sufficient, he now begs for a handout every day from our generous government, who provides him with food and a home because those rich fat cats who make a profit deserve to suffer or something or other. Because the bear was once a healthy and prosperous bear but now is just a lazy welfare case of a bear, the local residents have taken to calling him Bearack Obama...

This post is amusing, but it was based on a true story.

Abolish the Department of Education- What Does the Data Suggest?

...the massive spending in education at the federal level was largely a waste of money and did nothing to improve our test scores.... this group would argue that all of the spending done at the federal level is having little to no effect on test scores for students because the money is being gobbled up by bureaucrats in Washington who are far removed from the real educating of students at the local level. They would suggest spending less amounts on education at the federal level and seeing what might happen- perhaps test scores would remain flat as they have done for over 30 years, but if this happens than our nation could save that $77 billion dollars/year and use it in other areas where it might be needed or not use it at all and have our government run a balanced budget....

This post considers two arguments in favor of the Department of Education- you'll have to read the full post to find out what the data suggests regarding this federal agency.

Image via Wikipedia African Liberty reports:

Senegalese Members of Parliament voted to amend the constitution to extend the presidential term from five to seven years amidst opposition from many Senegalese. The government has flouted the constitution by modifying an aspect that can only be amended through a referendum.
There have been several changes to Senegal's constitution in recent years and some local analysts claim the move is to prepare the ground for the Presidents' son to be able to succeed his father...[continue reading]

There is an appealing logic to the latest multimillion-dollar aid package for Africa announced last week by George Bush and Tony Blair. It is supposed to help rob terrorists of a breeding ground and, in a humanitarian spirit, relieve the continent of some of its misery. But anyone who has followed the fate of Africa over recent decades might wonder: Why should these millions of dollars have any better effect than the billions that have gone before? Why does the West feel the need to keep pouring money into Africa? One answer has to do with the underlying conventional wisdom, which blames Africa's miseries on the delayed effects of Western colonialism.
['Africa Unchained']
Yet as the decades pass it becomes apparent that, although there is some truth to the claim, there is more to Africa's problems than that: A solution will require radical changes in the way Africa is governed and in the way its economies function. George Ayittey makes such an argument in "Africa Unchained" (Palgrave, 483 pages, $35), a superb analysis of the continent and its recent ordeals................
................Colonialism plays a part in Mr. Ayittey's account, too, but in a different way. For him, the continent's problems stem from the characteristics of the governing elite. In "Africa Unchained," he draws a sharp distinction between African governments -- generally corrupt, socialist, centralizing -- and the informal sectors of the African economy, which the elite's misdeeds have impoverished. At independence in the 1960s, Africa was a net exporter of food; now it imports $18 billion of food per annum.
But where did the elites pick up their bad habits? Mr. Ayittey describes in detail the economics of precolonial African societies. Property was held in common among the extended family but not by the community as a whole, while economic activity was undertaken for profit, with prices set by hard bargaining. Government operated through consultation, with chiefs exercising power only after full discussion with a council of elders. Thus the modern pattern of one-party or one-person rule, state ownership and state controls over prices and distribution is an import from Europe, not an African tradition.
Free Institutions
Mr. Ayittey's claim that democracy and free markets, not autocracy and communal ownership, are a legacy of Africa's own past is important, since it provides a rationale for Africans to move toward a system that can work. It presents a striking parallel to the work of parliamentarian historians at the time of the English Civil War, who traced English civil liberties back before Magna Carta to the Anglo-Saxon "Witanagemot" -- a gathering of tribal eminences -- and to the free institutions ascribed by Tacitus to the Germans of the first century. These historians gave their liberal cause legitimacy; Mr. Ayittey's researches may give a similar legitimacy to free institutions in Africa.
As for what those institutions might be, Mr. Ayittey calls for independent judiciaries, independent media and, not least, independent central banks. He would like to see power devolve as much as possible to Africa's traditional leaders -- at the village and regional level -- who are closer to the people they rule and less able to escape abroad from the penalties for corruption and malfeasance. He notes that Africa's governments today too often divert what money they have -- from aid or from oil and mineral revenues -- to military spending, wasteful prestige projects and tax-haven bank accounts. Here, too, local control would help. Aid in particular -- Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair take note -- needs to be targeted locally and regionally, rather than nationally, and it needs to be dispensed much more quickly than it is now, and in much smaller amounts.
What chance is there of such reforms actually happening? Less than one might wish. Part of the problem still comes from the West. When the principal cadres of Westerners dealing with Africa are aid agencies, charities and NGOs, rather than the financiers and businessmen who predominate in India and China, one has to expect that Africans, elite and otherwise, will be exposed to a high level of economic illiteracy.
Still, capital and investment will not flow toward Africa until it has done more to shrink the power of its governments and provide havens, secure against tax, inflation and expropriation, for the savings of its striving peoples. And in this regard Western attempts at institution-building will be of little help. It is for Africans to build their own models of governance. Luckily, as Mr. Ayittey shows, they have a proud tradition to draw upon -- and never mind the colonizers.
Mr. Martin Hutchinson is the author of "Great Conservatives" (Academica Press).