Give Them a Break

In Strong Societies and Weak States, Migdal points out the incredibly high expectations held by Westerners of newly independent Third World states and the manifestations of these expectations in the newly developed international institutions and norms that emphasized Human Rights, social and economic justice and development. The manifestations of these high expectations and the high expectations themselves, although good-hearted in nature, actually undermined the new states ability to develop into strong states because they placed too much pressure on and demanded too much of newly independent states. Not only did newly independent states have to develop a legitimate, central government that could perform the basic required tasks, but at the same time, they also had to immediately grant civil and political liberties and economic and social justice to its citizens. In order to meet these expectations, states had to do more than they were capable of, which only led to failure and further weakening for most states. This was the case for many African countries that tried to maintain multiparty democracy after independence, but failed to do so because they lacked the capacity needed and as a result, transitioned quickly to authoritarian or Afro-Marxist regimes. Clearly, these demands by the West and Western institutions were asking too much of new states and they were not taking into consideration the actual conditions and capabilities of the states, which didn’t allow for such rapid development. The Western states also did not take into consideration the length of time it took for them to develop the political and civil liberties its citizens presently enjoyed. These high expectations and high levels of pressure continue today, Migdal says himself that, “the international environment demands more of states, especially those facing impoverished populations, than ever before.” (17)

In my opinion, even though I know or at least I assume Western states and institutions have the best intentions, it was and still is unfair for them to demand so much of developing nations because while they (Western states) were developing, they never had to wrestle with outside states or institutions instructing them on how they should run their governments, economies and societies, rather they were left to their own devices and allowed to develop at their own pace. Of course, the global environment was different during the development of Western states and I am not arguing that Western states and institutions stop providing aid. What I am arguing for is a new way to approach the distribution of aid, a way that empowers states instead of humiliating and weakening them. Perhaps, we need to return to the idea of the developmental state and channel monetary aid through the governments and in doing so give power back to the leaders of states. Of course, this is challenging, since many developing states are weak and therefore their governments are poor instruments for development purposed. However, the purpose of developmental aid is to strengthen governments and maybe, in order to strengthen governments we need to give them greater responsibility.