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August 27, 2007

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i think it does.

Matthew

Does Democracy (inevitably) lead to development. No. Clearly not as most of India's post independence history shows as well as that of Argentina. Is democracy necessary for development. No, as China and Vietnam demonstrate. "Now the point is: should we bank on democracy to get these people out of the poverty trap?" No. Having spent most of the last 2 years in Ghana watched the successful change of government I'm delighted, but a big chunk of Ghana's reforms were done under Jerry Rawling's dictatorship. The democracy in Ghana is great, but Ghana is growing because people have the confidence in the stability to invest and set up companies. That's also true in China (which I have visited several times) Democracy is good and important in its own right and for the protection of the citizens of a country. I'm not convinced it is crucial to economic development. Perhaps a more interesting question would be "Does development lead to democracy?"

Noah

I agree that there is not one solution to the problems that developing countries face, but i believe that democracy is a good place to begin with.

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