Descriptive
Why Nations Fail takes an in depth look into why some countries flourish and become rich powerful nations while other countries are left in or reduced to poverty. Throughout this book review I will discuss major arguments and theories used by the authors and how they directly impact international development, keeping in mind that nations are only as strong as their political and economical systems.
Extractive institutions are used throughout this book to explain that the upper class extracts resources and goods from the lower class. They don’t allow growth or competition, but rather they just exploit the rest of society into doing their labour. It’s used to please a few, rather than the majority, and can still be seen in most places in the world. Whereas, inclusive institutions are the ideal way nations should be run, allowing for fair economical systems, property ownership, educational facilities and allowing all citizens to participate in the growth of the economy. Acemoglu and Robinson argue that this is the main factor in distinguishing the rich countries from the poor and, moreover, how they treat their citizens. This system is relatively used in North America and Western Europe.
"The richly divergent patterns of economic development around the world hinge on the interplay of critical junctures and institutional drift. Existing political and economic institutions - sometimes shaped by a long process of institutional drift and sometimes resulting from divergent responses to prior critical junctures-create the anvil upon which future change will be forged."(109-110) Institutional drift is introduced as an instrument to further explain institutional evolution; used to explain the process of economical change.
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...m having an authoritarian leader even if he is trying to help the country grow. Also, the authors don’t believe in foreign aid and they explain that usually only 10% actually reaches the helpless. However, even if only 1% of the intended aid was going to the actual recipients, than that would still be an accomplishment over nothing.
To conclude, Why Nations Fail is a simple novel that explains the authors view on why our world is the way it is today. Some countries are abnormally rich and powerful while others are left in the dust. Although some of their points are vague and don’t necessarily come across as simple reasons, they do a great job at trying to sum down this huge question into a well written novel.
Works Cited
Acemoglu, Daron, and James A. Robinson. Why nations fail: the origins of power, prosperity, and poverty. New York: Crown Publishers, 2012. Print.
The environmental movement in politics is often overplayed causing people to loose interest in the issue, but Jarred Diamond makes it impossible to ignore the issue in his book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Jared Diamond hopes to catch as many peoples attention as he can; the name alone, “Collapse”, makes him appear to be an alarmist looking for attention. He has just cause though for blowing the whistle on society. He makes parallels to previous failed societies and to modern societies showing how the practices that we employ are similar to these failed societies. He is suggesting that America, as well as other countries, are headed down the path of ecocide more possible a global ecocide. Through his extensive research and numerous examples he makes it impossible to argue with his thesis. While all of examples seem redundant and like he is over emphasizing the point he does this to show his thoroughness. He also does it to show that he is correct. Diamond does not want to be wrong; he is a major author who gets a lot of attention when he releases a book. People look to discredit Diamond’s work. Due to this he gives ample resources to support this thesis.
...conomically beneficial trade and technology development. In this regard the Epilogue uses sound logic to plausibly answer the wealth question. On the other hand, Mr. Diamond uses the same "national competition" thesis to purport that Asia's large, centralized governments were conspicuously growth-inhibitive. This argument would not seem to pass muster given what we have learned about the role of governments. Professor Wright's slides state that "Centralization may limit predation and even allow for growth" as "centralized predation = incentives to maximize the haul " This clearly refutes Mr. Diamond's argument that centralized, monopolistic Asian governments impaired societal advances. Thus, Guns, Germs, and Steel can scantly explain why China and the Middle East remain emerging markets while Western and Northern Europe enjoy significantly larger national wealth.
Many countries around the world experience great poverty, maybe because the country has little amounts of natural resources or it has never gotten out of a slump that dragged down the economy. The people of the country are affected greatly by this, almost directly, if there are no resources available, people can’t work to refine the resources, make or use them. So instead of using the resources available, the country buys the materials needed. This puts the country in debt, along with the people. In order to get out of debt, taxes are raised and people slowly lose their jobs and their money. The affect of that is turmoil, some people blame their misfortune on a certain race or culture, some on a religion. In the case of Germany in 1938...
Flory, Harriette, and Samuel Jenike. A World History: The Modern World. Volume 2. White Plains, NY: Longman, 1992. 42.
Great societies when key areas are not strong, such as the laws that the leader made were unfair, citizens living on the streets with little food, water, and shelter, and the wars that they went through. The bad laws of these governments were, treating the minority unfairly. Making their laws a lesser of the majority. Also treating lower social ranked people with not as many right or unfair rights( getting taxed higher). The wars destroyed areas. After losing a war, you have to pay the taxes that the war has caused. Also your area of land is destroyed. Poverty of citizens make your economy look poor. Putting people out on the streets, and not doing anything about. These are the main key points of why great societies fall.
We look in particular to the case of the United States. The US is the world’s leading power and hegemon, who also has the world’s highest GDP and GDP per capita. However, in recent years the gap between the rich and the poor has been growing at a fast pace. This prevalence of income inequality in a free market society like the US indicates that inequality is a direct result of a market or government failure. In a free market it is believed that individuals possess an equal opportunity to be successfully, but because of misallocation of resources in a market economy this is not possible.
Landes, D., 1999. The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 38-59
When people such as writers, philosopher, and scientists of the past would imagine and predict what the world would be like in the twenty-first century, most thought of a glorious advanced human civilization. A civilization with a stable and unified global government and global economy that is beneficial to all. It seems that now, in year 2011, we are far from a stable international community. With a vast majority of people living without food, clean water, and basic political rights, the future envisioned 100 or 200 years ago is still far away. There are numerous nations with either weak or failed states. Since the people living in these states are usually suffering enormous hardships, something needs to be done. This leads to a few central questions like, how can a weak state be made stronger? What strategy is most likely to be effective? What would it take to turn a weak or failed state into one with sufficient strength to carry out the main functions of a state? All of these questions will be answered in order as this paper is read. Before diving into these questions, it is important to examine the key features/characteristics of a weak state.
Political institutions serve as one of the integral components for the foundation of civilization. The break down of governments can rot the core of a country and cause severe global issues. Several instances of broken down political institutions, ranging from Egypt to Uganda, has lead to massive corrosion of civilizations, and has disturbed the functioning peace within many countries. The weakenging, or full on collapse of an institution can leave the country crippled, and will open up the opportunity for there to be massive corruption and greed. If a political system does not have checks and balances, and the citizens are not kept satisfied, then breakdown is investable. The corrosion of government acts as a spark for many issues, in
From 1971 to 1980, the author worked as an ‘Economic Hitman’ (EHM) for the consulting firm Chas. T. Main, Inc. (MAIN). His role was “to cheat countries around the globe out of billions of dollars... to encourage world leaders to become part of a vast network that promotes U.S. commercial interests. In the end, those leaders become ensnared in a web of debt that ensures their loyalty” (p17). This was accomplished by the production of economic projections that would persuade the World Bank and other international organisations to lend money to these countries. After this money was spent on developing infrastructure in the countries in question – the contracts for which went to U.S. companies – they were left with large amounts of debts which they could not hope to repay. This in turn left these countries beholden to the United States’ economic and political interests, creating a ‘global empire’ controlled by “corporations, banks and governments” (Preface, p xiii). Perkins refers to this collusion of interests as the ‘corporatocracy’, and it is they who devised and carry out this strategy. The goal is not only to increase economic growth, both for the U.S. and the corporations themselves, but “to perpetuate and continually expand the system” (Preface, p xiii).
Why do nations fail? This is a topic of popular debate with many economists and a question many scholars have struggled to find an answer to. Global poverty is an issue that economists Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson investigate and provide an alternative insight for in their book: ‘Why Nations Fail’. Acemoglu and Robinson investigate inequalities that exist across countries and why nations are an epitome of success and others, failure. They come up with an alternative explanation for why standards of living differ across countries, and why a gap exists between the rich and poor. The book introduces an example of two cities that are separated by a border: Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora. On the American side of the border, the income of the average household is $30,000, the population is relatively healthy, and the citizens live prosperously (Acemoglu & Robinson, 2012). On the opposite side of the border in Mexico, majority of the population do not own a high school degree, poor health conditions exist, poor infrastructure and unfortunately, high infant mortality rates (Acemoglu & Robinson 2012). How can situations on opposite borders be so different? The basis for Acemoglu and Robison’ s thesis for this phenomenon is that of institutions. They propose that that there is a strong correlation between economic and political institutions. That is, inclusive political institutions support inclusive economic institutions, and extractive political institutions support extractive economic institutions (Acemoglu & Robinson, 2012). Democratic institutions generally allow opportunities for the majority, leading to positive economic growth. Political institutions that look after a narrow elite is reinforced with stag...
First, the nation-state has evolved with the aspect of market and economic global interdependence. Exports and imports have always been a powerful characteristic that unites the world’s economy. When the western hemisphere was discovered the European nations began to export the natural resources and good. However, over time this ...
Rodney’s argument is broken down into six chapters each consisting of several subdivisions and case studies supporting his principle argument. The first chapter works towards defining the terms of development and underdevelopment and argues the comparative nature of these terms; a country is only ‘underdeveloped’ by European standards. This chapter begins by tracing European development from its early stages of communalism through feudalism and finally capitalism. Then, he works towards developing an understanding of the term ‘underdevelopment’ and through an analysis of a variety of development indices what it constitutes in present day society: “In Niger, one doctor must do for 56, 140 people; in Tunisia one doctor for every 8,320 Tunisians”(18). The Marxist concept of inherent inequalities within the international capitalist system un...
Institution studies are strongest in examining political influence on economic development. Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations first articulated a ‘political survey’ approach by outlining the po...
Many factors can lead to the underdevelopment of a country. The most common sign of underdevelopment is that of a “Dual Economy”, this takes place when a “small modern elite and middle class make up about 20-30% of a country’...