assignment格式：国民收入差距调查

无论你是一个关心国家的公民，还有是一个社会科学家，一个经济学家，甚至是一个政治分析师的观点是你看看世界各地的财富和繁荣的分布，你面临的一个问题，为什么会存在富裕国家和贫穷国家。这些不仅世界银行和国际货币基金组织（IMF）是努力工作的专业人士关注的问题，也是刚果民主共和国一个农民试图谋生的问题（DRC）。

我的文章将讨论贫穷国家贫穷不是因为他们缺乏资源而是因为他们缺乏有效的治理机构.。更具体地说，我的重点是在有关机构和领导在非洲的问题。非洲正遭受各种治理失败的困扰。

 

1.INTRODUCTION 简介

 

Whether you are a concerned citizen, whether you are a social scientist, whether you are an economist or even a political analyst the point is as you look at the distribution of wealth and prosperity across the world, you are confronted with a question why are there rich countries and why are there poor countries. These are not only the concerns of the hard working professionals at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) but also the concerns of a peasant who is trying to make a living in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

 

My essay will argue poor countries are poor not because they lack resources but because they lack effective governance institutions. More specifically, my focus is directed at issues related to Institutions and leadership in Africa. Africa is plagued with a variety of governance failures.

 

Poverty in Africa 非洲的贫困问题

 

Africa has the greatest wealth in terms of natural resources and the fastest growing economies in the world, yet Africa remains one of the poorest regions globally. Some political leaders in Africa are routinely called to account by international bodies for blatant violation of human rights of their citizens. For example, Charles Taylor of Liberia, Jean-Pierre Bemba of the DRC, Omar Al Bashir of Sudan have all been indicted by the international criminal court for crimes against humanity. The fact that external bodies have to take the initiative to call these leaders to account for their actions, is an indictment on the quality of governance in Africa. Political leadership in Africa has displayed an arrogant trend towards violating the very laws that leaders ought to be protecting.

 

Some parts of the continent are eternally in a state of civil war. Another factor that contributed to poverty in Africa is the continuation of civil war in some countries, for example, the Central African Republic and DRC to mention a few. These conflicts hinder economic growth where people looted, terrified and carnage one another and left the value of the rich African mineral resources like diamonds, uranium and oil prices depreciating drastically and making it vulnerable and giving easy access to the Chinese who bought the Central African Republic's oil field. (Sudan Vision newspaper)#p#分页标题#e#

 

The distribution of political power 政治权力分配

 

One of the factors affecting economic growth in African states is the type of distribution of political power. When you have a situation where there is highly centralised political power whereby power is vested in one man or in a dominant party, it becomes difficult to sustain institutions that exist to promote equal opportunities and equality before the law. This also applies to the opportunities that present themselves in the economy of that country.

 

The high centralised and concentrated political leadership do not create a platform where economic opportunities created by the state can benefit individuals who do not have some level of connection with the ruling cliques. Consequently, ordinary citizens who are outside of the circles of influence are kept out in economies where political leadership is highly centralised. Therefore, the solution is to fix the prevailing politics in a country if development is to take place. In those democracies which have high levels of presidentialism, the institutions of accountability must be strengthened with oversight powers over the executive. The mechanism by which judges are appointed can also be changed in order limit personalised appointments by the President. What is deemed to be in the interests of politics may not be in the interests of politics. Thus there is a link between the political institutions of a state and development. Centralization of power inhibits a nations economic growth.

 

Africa is also rich in terms of human capacity. However, Africa's skills are lost to the already developed western world. For example, academics are daily if not monthly leaving their countries to seek for employment in overseas countries other than their own.

 

In South Africa, it is evident at the National of Department of Science and Technology that most of the researchers and scientists are from other African countries rather than SA itself. SA will be faced with a serious challenge if these researchers and scientists decide to return to their country of origin. In my view, South Africans are too comfortable and reluctant to pursue this area of science and technology as there is a notion that science is a difficult area to learn. Nigeria for example is currently leading in the area of science and technology.

 

Economic Report on Africa 2011 confirmed that:非洲2011年经济报告证实：

 

In a knowledge-driven economy, investment in research, science and technology for economic development is central to boosting production, enhancing human capacity and reinforcing the capability of the state. To promote sustainable growth and economic transformation, African countries would have to scale up their investment in R&D.

 

Corruption as a contributor to poverty 腐败作为一个贫穷的制造者#p#分页标题#e#

 

It is believable in accordance with IMF and World Bank that corruption is a universal problem. Corruption happens when political leaders are unaccountable to their citizens who they are serving, they abuse freedom or democracy for their own personal gains. A traditional example can be seen in the democratic South Africa where former President Mbeki stated (Oneale, L, 2014) that tribalism perpetuated corruption because politicians use this tool to reward certain individuals and also influence other. Tribalism and political connections are rife worldwide. In the context of South Africa, the outcomes of such behaviour amongst others is making South Africa to lose its shine as a rainbow nation but becomes a nondescript nation.

 

African leaders are also taking corruption further by ignoring mechanisms available in their countries that will help them to do proper checks and balances as they prefer the notion of not being ruled their own constitution rule by the law but prefers to exercise systems of patronage and in so doing they help to lay the foundation of bad governance and corruption that had a negative impact in their economies and also increases the rate of poverty.

 

The state - Institution and leadership failure in Africa 非洲的国家制度与领导失败

 

Max Weber view's the state as a set of instruments of domination (Van Niekerk,Van der Waldt and Jonker, 2001:41) There are other political institutions like non government organisation (NGO) and multinational organisations that have influential power on how the state and also exercise authority in politics, however, the state still remains the powerful actor in world of politics. (Keohane 1984).

 

The other fundamental factor of countries being poor is that of the weak, ineffective capacity of the state itself where you find political leaders holding high positions in government offices and not knowing what they are mandated to do in taking the economy forward with the rich natural resources that they have. The impression of political leaders not knowing what they are mandated to do can be regarded as abuse of political power and resources as money is been spend on such political leaders to render services to their citizens. Examples of countries with such political leaders are, to mention a few Somalia, Haiti, Sudan and Sierra Leone.

 

If the Africa's development goals are to be realised, skilled human personnel is required. African state bureaucracies often have low levels of capacity. Those countries that have managed to achieve high levels of economic growth have done so because the state intervened in the economy and actively directed growth in such economies. This is what happened in the so called "Asian Tiger" economies. In order to stimulate growth in certain industries you need the economic as well as bureaucratic means to do so. At the different points of entry numerous taxable income is being lost due the fact the state does not have the institutional capacity to manage the process effectively. Thus, we are faced with a challenge of getting the right institutions and leaders that will implement these policies.#p#分页标题#e#

 

Africa is also rich in terms of human capacity. However, Africa's skills are lost to the already developed western world. For example, academics are daily if not monthly leaving their countries to seek for employment in overseas countries other than their own.

 

Political institutions and governance are leading items on the African developmental agenda. Most observers recognise that any adequate account of the region's poor performance must extend well beyond narrowly economic factors. Adverse world market conditions and internal structural rigidities on their own do not adequately explain Africa's stagnation and decline. (Collier & Gunning 1999; Lewis 1996; Ravenhill 1993).

 

Dictatorship also plays a role in bad governance. (Owoye and Bissessar 2012) also agrees that corruption epidemic in African countries owes its existence to the long-term tenure of their dictators. Examples of such leaders are Ethiopia's Emperor Haile Selassie who was in office for 44 years and Gabon's Omar Odimba Bongo for 42 years amongst others.

 

The importance of public value 公共价值的重要性

 

(Benington 2009) indicated that "public value focuses attention on both what the public values and on what strengthens the public spheres. Public value highlights the processes of value creation, and the longer term outcomes for the public sphere, not just short term activities and outputs".

 

Mark Moore believes that "public value serves to Demands for Eternal Accountability and hence for mobilising support from the authorising environment and foster a sense of internal accountability"

 

As Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson argued that the most important determinants of economic success in a nation is whether or not it has got inclusive and exclusive economic institutions (Acemoglu D, Robinson A 2012). When a country has exclusive institutions, its political leaders cannot be held accountable because they are not bind by any rule and that gives them an opportunity to do as they please. Centralization of power inhibits a nations economic growth. In order to have economic growth a country must have inclusive political institutions and allow everyone to participate in economic opportunities.

 

For any country to succeed in introducing any new policy or shaping an existing policy or even new systems ,it is the responsibility of public managers to engage with citizens and stakeholders of that particular country that will be affected by that particular policy or system. By stakeholders I am referring to interest groups, private sector, media, informal communities and courts to mention a few. Mark Moore (1995) argues that "public value could be best understood and achieved within a public sphere and democratic space within which citizens can address their concerns collectively and individual liberties protected." An example of such an environment can be that of a higher education institution where students can be engaged to get their views on how to improve the processes of applications, registrations, payment and getting results with the aim to avoid students and parents standing the whole day in long queues for accessing such services.#p#分页标题#e#

 

In South Africa, for example neither citizens nor stakeholders were properly engaged when the e-tolling system was build in Gauteng Province. Citizens are now faced with the challenge of paying for the e-tolling maintenance. The importance of public value is again seen in John Thomas case study on, "should the constitution be amended" he emphasised the importance of public participation where Senator Juan Santos has to send his senior staff member to interview people in the streets to get their opinion on whether should the constitution that have served the country very well for the previous 15 years be amended or not (Thomas, J.W, 2005). In my view, one can deduce two things out of this case study case, firstly why fix it whilst not broken and the second being change is good as it brings it new perspectives, however after consultation, the final decision still lies with the Senator.

 

The rule of law 法律规则

 

Fukuyama (2011) stresses the importance of the rule of law and accountable government in limiting the states power and "ensuring that it is subordinate to the will of the people."

 

Political leadership in Africa is not held accountable for their actions because the institutions of public accountability are weak. It is a complete failure of the organisation of state to bring the different political actors to account for unlawful actions. Institutions such as Parliament are weak and are not empowered to act against powerful actors in society. For example many Presidents worldwide who are often facing serious charges of corruption are returned to power by the people. This was evident when President Zuma was still the Deputy President of the African National Congress whereby rape and corruption charges amongst others were suddenly dropped against him. This was done for the purpose to sworn him in as the President of the country at a later stage as it is believed that no political member should enter any political arena with charges hanging on them. The issues of being connected to higher offices or having a political influence played a role again in this case. The above example clearly display how the rule of law was undermined that led to undermining good governance. This is clear that political leaders abuse power invested in them by the people.

 

Accountability as a governance indicator 作为治理指标的问责

 

With regard to accountability, Du Toit and Van der Waldt (1997:94) refer to accountability as the responsibility to account to society for what has or has not been done. Accountability in South African context can be demonstrated in a triangular format, firstly accountability between citizens and politicians/policymakers secondly between politicians/policymakers and service providers and thirdly between service providers and citizens (The World bank 2011). The first leg of the triangle is the most popular one where citizens elect whoever feel comfortable with to lead their government in providing a variety of services as per their need. The citizens are within their rights to vote them out of power in the next democratic elections if they fail to deliver on their promises. South Africans will be going through the process of electing their leaders on May 7, 2014 who they expect to be accountable to them.#p#分页标题#e#

 

An example of accountability between citizens and politicians can be seen in the recent findings in the Nkandla report by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) on the security upgrade at President Zuma's homestead. The report asked him to account for the additional buildings that include the cattle kraal, the swimming pool, chicken run and amphitheatre amongst others where taxpayers money was used to pay for such luxuries. The argument is that, these additional buildings has got nothing to do with the President's security but for his own personal gain and the comfort of his own family. This is a very controversial matter as the money that the President is expected to pay back still belongs to the South African citizens. The latest development of this case is that President Zuma is refusing to pay back what was recommended by the NPA in the report, this clearly shows that the rule of law is being undermined again by those who are holding political powers.

 

It is therefore evident enough that in accordance to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund corruption, dictatorship and misuse of power amongst others as I mentioned throughout my essay can be seen as a universal problem and its effects are felt by most of the developing countries in Africa.

 

What should it take for African countries to get to Denmark 非洲国家到丹麦应该怎么办？

 

To ask this question is to face the problem posed by Lant Pritchett and Michael Woolcock in their paper "Getting to Denmark". Those who live in stable democratic ,peaceful, inclusive states that have low levels of political corruption, high degrees of accountability, an independent judiciary also live in the most economically prosperous countries according to the human development index. There is therefore a correlation between stable politics and a wealthy economy.

 

Conclusion and recommendations 结论和建议

 

In this paper I have argued that poor countries are poor not because they lack resources, but because they lack effective governance institutions. The second important point I have sought to highlight is that prosperity can be engineered through appropriate governance arrangements and practices. The root cause of economic undevelopment in Africa lies in poor leadership and institutions. I recommend that in order for African states to get to Denmark, they have to strengthen accountability in both leadership and institutions.