Tuesday, February 2, 2010

The reality of Africa, cont'd

Yesterday I gave you rather a long quote from Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles, describing how Africa had regressed in the post-colonial period. Now let's look at Richard Dowden's account of what happened in Asia at the same time.

By the end of the century, Asia had leapt ahead while Africa had gone backwards. Many Asian states started from a lower economic baseline than Africa in the early 1960s, but then made rapid progress in the 1980s with hi-tech industrialization policies implemented with rigid political, social and educational discipline.

Economic policies, technology, social organization and, above all, attitudes had changed. Within a couple of decades Asian countries were able to sustain increasing populations and offer them a future. More of their children survived, more families had clean running water and electricity, more were going to school, were learning to read and write and were able to find jobs when they left.

Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia and a new and mighty China began to become the world's manufacturers, making better and cheaper cars, textiles, ships, plastics, radios, toys and computers. Life got better for more people in Asia in the 1980s than at any other time in the history of human development.

The italics are mine, once again.

So...why the difference? Why did Asia succeed while Africa failed? My conclusions (if you haven't already guessed) tomorrow.

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