Does World Poverty Call For A New Colonialism?
At The Atlantic, Sebastian Mallaby reports:
Paul Romer, a gentle economist at Stanford University [...] is peddling a radical vision: that dysfunctional nations can kick-start their own development by creating new cities with new rules [...] centers of progress that Romer calls “charter cities.” By building urban oases of technocratic sanity, struggling nations could attract investment and jobs; private capital would flood in and foreign aid would not be needed. And since Henry the Lion is not on hand to establish these new cities, Romer looks to the chief source of legitimate coercion that exists today—the governments that preside over the world’s more successful countries. To launch new charter cities, he says, poor countries should lease chunks of territory to enlightened foreign powers, which would take charge as though presiding over some imperial protectorate. Romer’s prescription is not merely neo-medieval, in other words. It is also neo-colonial.
Inevitably, Romer’s big idea attracts some skeptical responses. “Paul is very creative,” says William Easterly, a development economist at New York University, “and sometimes creativity can cross the line into craziness.”
We in the west can hem and haw all we like, but here's my guess: at least some poor countries will take this idea and run with it. Why not? It isn't as if there aren't any takers.
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Re: Does World Poverty Call For A New Colonialism?
James writes:
And it's not just Greece and China. Zimbabwe and China have had this sort of relationship for the past several years. However, I'm a bit concerned that China is the common denominator in both of our examples. As the NY Times puts it:
On the other hand, Western nations are not exactly in the financial position to try out this new kind of colonialism. And even if they were, the idea smacks too much of imperialism, which we all know is the dirtiest word of the 21st century (or at least it is among the circles in which Hugo Chavez and Cindy Sheehan tend to run.)
May '10
Re: Does World Poverty Call For A New Colonialism?
There are a lot of problems that make the thing probably fail, but Prof. Romer does have some interesting ideas. His talk with Hoover's Russ Roberts is recommended as the best primer on the charter cities concept:
http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/04/romer_on_charte.html
May '10
Re: Does World Poverty Call For A New Colonialism?
I was going to make some of the same points as Diane above--including tying in to China's soft imperialism in parts of Africa recently and how functionally it is quite similar to what the Professor was offering up.
Then the site randomly logged me out and ate my homework. Instead, I'll say ditto to what she said and add that the only hope for us to compete with China's new imperialism is that larger Western corporations decide to brave the waters of "slave labor" and "sweatshop" noise and invest themselves in the same things that we are seeing out of China. Which is unlikely to happen and it means that vital resources and the political future of developing nations in Africa are more and more in the sphere of Chinese influence--and less and less open to our pushes for democracy and openness.
The Chinese are winning the day with good, old fashioned greed; we're losing it with massive, best-intentioned giveaways.
Go figure.
Re: Does World Poverty Call For A New Colonialism?
David Jones: I was going to make some of the same points as Diane above--including tying in to China's soft imperialism in parts of Africa recently and how functionally it is quite similar to what the Professor was offering up.
Then the site randomly logged me out and ate my homework. Instead, I'll say ditto to what she said and add that the only hope for us to compete with China's new imperialism is that larger Western corporations decide to brave the waters of "slave labor" and "sweatshop" noise and invest themselves in the same things that we are seeing out of China....
I appreciate the affirmation, David. And sorry that the site ate your homework! Your comments remind me of African economist Dambisa Moyo's argument (which she expounds upon in her book Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa) about how foreign aid is actually quite detrimental to Africa in the long run, and how what is needed instead is foreign investment. Peter Robinson interviewed Ms. Moyo on "Uncommon Knowledge" last summer.
May '10
Re: Does World Poverty Call For A New Colonialism?
"And sorry that the site ate your homework!"
You know, I'm not. You said what I was aiming for and you said it better. Which is probably why people pay you for this stuff. The sight probably saved me a little embarrassment.
Thanks for those links. I've just pre-ordered Ms. Moyo's book--I hope her wisdom is heard and understood.
And for all the contributors, I'm really starting to enjoy Ricochet. A wonderful range of voices, topics, and ideas.
May '10
Re: Does World Poverty Call For A New Colonialism?
At the risk of branding myself as the in-house spy for the "Red" Chinese (http://ricochet.com/conversations/China-Blue), someone explain to me how China's opportunistic global search for necessary resources is any different from or worse than any other country's, including ours? They make deals with ugly dictators to get raw materials- yup, we've done that. They try to crowd out competitors- yup. They invest to make friends- uh huh. They want to sell military hardware for export revenue- no, we'd never do that (snicker- I did enough of that myself 20 years ago, in China's back yard).
Now, if they were proselytizing for Mao's philosophy, or trying to colonize, or invading, I would agree that we should do battle. But these guys are amoral power broker elitist technocrats who like centralized government authoritarianism... I mean Hu, et al, not Rahm or Mayor Daley. But how are they that different?
Re: Does World Poverty Call For A New Colonialism?
Sounding kind of pinko there, Duane.
But I agree with you. And worse, I think China's totally mercenary, utterly self-interested investment in Africa will end up being better for Africa than all of the convoys of white UN vans, NGO outreach missions, and soggy do-gooders put together.
When I was in Agadez, Niger not too long ago, my Italian guide said, with a rueful smile, that one of the things he wonders is, "Are the UN and the NGOs here because this place is so bad, or is this place so bad because the UN and the NGOs are here?"
Re: Does World Poverty Call For A New Colonialism?
Rob Long Sounding kind of pinko there, Duane.
But I agree with you. And worse, I think China's totally mercenary, utterly self-interested investment in Africa will end up being better for Africa than all of the convoys of white UN vans, NGO outreach missions, and soggy do-gooders put together. . . . . Jun 11 at 5:17pm
In my experience, the charity mindset reinforces developing world problems. To the entrepreneur everything is an opportunity.
Consider that many medical products are aimed solely at 10 percent of the world's population. How shortsighted is this? High-tech companies offer a full range of products tailored for local conditions. Nokia sells advanced phones in the West and basic phones in Ethiopia (somehow the UN guys in Addis all have the expensive ones). The medical technology business needs to do likewise: embrace business-model innovations enabling truly global product offerings.
Until then, the Chinese mercantilists are a substantial improvement on the charity-alone approach.
May '10
Re: Does World Poverty Call For A New Colonialism?
May I further add that "China's totally mercenary, utterly self-interested investment" in most everything is exactly what will continue to open that society up. Why? Because you have to be more open to succeed at business- that means that you have to start to occasionally listen to customers. And eventually, leaders start to recognize that citizens are customers. And they have to listen.
Every citizen in China can vote, using their cell phones, on the winner of this year's "Chinese Idol", along with a lot of other such things. How long will it be before they start to ask why they can't vote out the Party hack who is the local mayor and is also as corrupt as Blago? You think that Beijing will protect the local guy? Ha.
It doesn't happen overnight in a polite society that has always been ruled by autocrats (even Dr. Sun was a bit, uh, coercive, and he was very short-lived). But eventually, go-getters start to go and get.
Who is the largest investor in China? Taiwanese GMD businessmen. You think that will have no effect?
May '10
Re: Does World Poverty Call For A New Colonialism?
Governments of developing countries should abolish restrictions on foreign equity and debt investment and establish legal systems that protect private property rights - if they want to attract financial capital and facilitate economic growth and development.
Do you mean engage them militarily?
May '10
Re: Does World Poverty Call For A New Colonialism?
Duane, without making a judgement on whether China's actions are good or bad for Africa, which is debatable--not, that is, that their behavior is better or worse than ours or other Western powers, but whether Africa will profit in growth and stability over time--the reason that it is bad has nothing to do with Africa.
When it comes to political influence and many of the natural resources in Africa--some of them tremendously rare--when China wins, we lose. Bluntly, I would much prefer a world where those profits, that influence, and those strategically important resources were tilted in our direction.
Full disclosure: the company that I work for is owned by Chinese interests and has its manufacturing facilities in China. I'm not so much anti-China as I am pro-America on larger political issues.