Q&A and random shit

Question 1

countries with much slavery that lost out

Answer 1

= countries that were initially most prosperous and most densely populated tend to be the countries that subsequently exported the largest nr of slaves

• e.g. Ghana, Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Gambia

Question 2

quote Rwanda reading

Answer 2

“this is not a question of whether the intentions of the leadershi are moe benevolent or otherwise praiseworthy. The issue may be restricted to whether rent management is directed toward the short-term enrichment ofmembers of the poliical class and its allies, or alternatively towards ‘growing the pie’ of the national economy, maximizing opportunities for long-erm accumulation”

Tri-Star/CVL plays a critical role in getting capitalism started: investments that met urgent social/political needs + earned the monopoly profits that would have accrued to any first comer.

Rwanda’s dev patriomonialism differs from the model of earlier regimes of this type (e.g. Banda’s Malawi): distinctive features of the regime do not seem to include a blurring of the distinction between the resources of the state and the private income or wealth of the ruler/ruling group.
- Boundaries between the gov operations and private-sector operations of the RPF and the army are clear and formalized
- One of the effects of the Tri-Star/CVL arrangement has been to enable the political elite to enforce an unusually strong anti-corruption line

Question 3

his graph

Answer 3

investment necessary for development

investment determined by structural factors

• geography (natural resource curse, tropical, landlocked)
• history (affects institutions and form of state: e.g. slavery -> dispersed populations -> hard to establish centralized state + lack of trust (to pay taxes))
• institutions = should be inclusive
• the state = centralized with enforcement capacity + developmental (not neoliberal and predatory)
• culture (debated)

these shape the prospects for investment

as polsci: institutions and state box priority

• if geography matters, it matters bc it affects politics
• we can overcome geographical/historical constraints with politics
• structural factors make dev. difficult

basic formal institutions + centralized state alone don’t work:

1. ignored: isomorphic mimicry, too demanding, forbearance
2. imported: lack of local political ownership/legitimacy
3. broken
4. resisted: losers, past winners, ethnic groups (diversity or discrimination)

what should we do?

1. accountability: reward and punish to make people do the right think (social accountability to protest, electoral to hold politicians accountable)
2. collective action: changing norms, overcome free riding
3. representation: parties and women

agency and leadership to use collective action, representation and accountability -> by building developmental coalitions

getting better leaders is intrinsically hard: path dependency (they got power this way, why get rid of the system, why change corrupt system)
- change comes from critical juncture

!!!top 10 take aways not for exam

Question 4

path dependence vs policy feedback

Answer 4

path dependence is to hold things and keep them doing the same thing

• it holds things constant, nothing changes

Question 5

embedded autonomy

Answer 5

= the developmental state (active, disciplined, encourages investment)

embedded autonomy lets the developmental state to do this: it creates the discipline (autonomy: not being subject to political pressure)

• industry knows it will be cut off from subsidies if not competitive -> will use initial subsidies in a really good way, bc otherwise it will be cut off
• relation with private sector key - network = embeddedness
  *can come from developmental coalitions