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Coping With Poverty In Africa

COPING WITH POVERTY IN AFRICA

by John Mclean

THE SELF INTEREST OF THE MAJOR ECONOMIC NATIONS

THE NEW BUZZWORDS   -   " ENLIGHTENED SELF INTEREST "

In past years it was always the African countries which were the richest in natural resources who received the most attention from the major economic countries.   Interest in these counties with rich natural resources was kept high solely due to national self interest.   The extremely poor African countries, those without major resources to deplete, were forgotten and abandoned. Somalia, Ethiopia, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Burkina Faso, and Mozambique are examples of African countries left solely to their own devices.

However, things may now be changing, and it is enlightened self interest which is now the key concept during world economic forums.   In March of this year, the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland, tried an experiment of a
"town-hall meeting" to find out what the top issues for the attendees were. What was amazing were the top two issues on the list.   That is, fighting poverty, and equitable globalisation.

Each of these two topics received votes from the majority of the attendees.
Have we encountered a den of liberal thinkers?   Not really!   British Prime Minister Tony Blair's talk on Africa had a quote that it explains it clearly: "it is based on enlightened self-interest".

Bad for business?

The message from many of the business leaders at Davos is that major world problems are bad for business: poverty is bad for business and the backlash against inequitable globalisation is bad for business.   Plus, major multinational firms are not likely to stop focusing on return, but social considerations are now creeping in.
In the past, international aid was designed entirely for the benefit of the donors and represented an important tool for the perpetuation of economic, political and military colonialism.

Aid - enlightened self-interest or gun-boat politics?

In many...