Poverty and Politics in “The Bottom Billion” by Collier Essay

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Why has Paul Collier singled out the Bottom Billion as an issue of focus for his book?

One of the foremost aspects of a post-industrial living is the fact that, as time goes on; many countries that are being formally referred to as ‘developing’ do not only develop but also appear to be steadily descending back into primeval savagery. In its turn, this suggests that there is something utterly wrong with how Western political scientists and economists conceptualize how these countries may approach the task of breaking out of the vicious circle of poverty.

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Therefore, the publishing of Paul Collier’s book The bottom billion: Why the poorest countries are failing and what can be done about it may be well regarded as such that has been dialectically predetermined by the essence of socio-economic dynamics in today’s world. Apparently, the reason why Collier singled out the ‘bottom billion’, as an issue to focus upon in his book, is that without clear and comprehensive answers being provided, as to why people in the Third World countries continue to suffer from an extreme poverty, there can be no hope for the situation, in this respect, to improve.

Nevertheless, it was specifically the fact that the continual deterioration of the socio-economic state of affairs in these countries negatively affects the overall geopolitical situation in the world, which appears to have served Collier as the foremost motivation to begin working on his book, “This problem matters… to us. The twenty-first-century world of material comfort, global travel, and economic inter-dependence will become increasingly vulnerable to these large islands of chaos” (Collier, 2007, p. 4).

Thus, it will only be logical, on our part to suggest that Collier’s book was primarily meant to appeal to the taxpaying citizens in Western countries, because it is namely these people’s hard-earned money that are being squandered by bureaucrats from the UN in the form of a ‘humanitarian aid’ , sent to the ‘developing’ nations annually, without any effects, whatsoever.

Apparently, Collier strived to enlighten the members of the targeted audience that the time has come for Western politicians to revise their conceptualization of poverty in the Third World, as such that is being solely caused by the lack of democracy. After all, many of the poorest Third World countries, such as Haiti, have adopted the democratic form of governing, as far back as at the beginning 19th century. This, however, does not seem to have had any positive effects on these countries’ economic well-being. Quite on the contrary – the more governmental officials from a particular ‘developing’ country proclaim their adherence to the ideals of democracy, the more this country’s ordinary citizens appear to suffer from clearly inadequate standards of living, “Democracy doesn’t seem to help… democracy is more common now in the countries of the bottom billion than it used to be” (p. 71).

Hence, the Collier book’s foremost conceptual premise – in order for Western politicians, which act on behalf of ordinary Westerners, to be able to solve the problem of the existence of ‘large islands of chaos’ on world’s map, they must be willing to adopt an unemotional and rationale-based approach towards addressing the earlier described situation. This, however, can only happen when there will be a popular demand for them to consider doing it.

In other words – it is specifically the establishment of preconditions for ordinary Westerners to be thoroughly aware of what account for the true causes of poverty in the Third World, which will result in Western governmental officials becoming less perceptually arrogant, in this respect. By publishing his book, Collier wanted to contribute to the process. Therefore, it must be reinstated again that, even though that the Collier book’s subject matter is being concerned with the ‘bottom billion’, it is specifically the representatives of the ‘top billion’, for which this book was written.

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According to Collier, what is the relationship between Civil War and Poverty?

According to Collier, one of the main reasons why people in ‘developing’ countries continue to experience an acute lack of even the most basic commodities is that many of these countries never ceased remaining in the state of a perpetual civil war. Nevertheless, unlike what it is being usually the case with many Western analysts, Collier does not refer to this state of affairs, as such that has been caused by the legacy of colonialism.

According to the author, the causes of civil wars in the ‘developing’ world are thoroughly objective, “Low income, slow growth, and primary commodity dependence make a country prone to civil war” (p. 20). The line of Collier’s argumentation, in this respect, does make a logical sense. According to him, there are two classical factors that predispose people in the Third World countries towards becoming indulged in civil wars – the lack of conventional opportunities to advance in life and the abundance of weapons.

Regardless how poor a particular ‘developing’ country is, it does generate a certain wealth. However, given the fact that the socio-political realities in ‘developing’ countries are being often associated with the absence of law and order, it naturally prompts many citizens to consider overthrowing the government and becoming this wealth’s ‘safe-keepers’, “Civil wars, are driven by greed rather than grievance” (p. 32).

This is why Collier thinks that there can be no good reasons to expect that the prolonged civil wars in the Third World countries will end any time soon. The fact that in these countries there is a plenty of hungry and armed people, on the one hand, and comparatively few corrupted governmental officials, in charge of ‘distributing’ national wealth, on the other, make this scenario highly unlikely. And, it is understood, of course, that countries that remain in the state of a civil war, will never be able to get out of poverty.

There can be few doubts as to the fact that Collier’s line of reasoning, in respect to how he establishes dialectical links between civil war and poverty, is not being altogether deprived of a rationale. At the same time, however, I think that while elaborating on how civil war and poverty derive out of each other; the author downplayed the importance of certain psychological factors. After all, even before African countries started to generate a commercial wealth, as a result of Western settlers having succeeded in establishing the economic infrastructure on locale, the representatives of local populations were known to live in the state of a never-ending tribal warfare.

In its turn, this can be explained by the fact that, as opposed to what it is being the case with Westerners, African natives never experienced an urge to preoccupy themselves with indulging in an abstract thinking, which even today prevents many of them from being able to emotionally relate to the very concepts of statehood and impersonal law. This is exactly the reason why, under ‘colonial yoke’, the representatives of local populations never experienced an urge to wage tribal war on each other – just as it is being the case with all evolutionary underdeveloped individuals, these people only respect naked force.

Therefore, there is nothing particularly odd about the fact that, after the end of the colonial era in the Third World countries, many of them became instantly engulfed by civil wars. This eventual development was concerned with the reestablishment of pre-colonial status quo in Europe’s former colonies. This is why I think that, when it comes to discussing what prompts people in the Third World countries to participate in civil wars, it is important to understand that, along with purely economic factors that predispose the continuation of this state of affairs, there are also a number of essentially psychological/biological ones.

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Collier states that “Resource Surplus [can] mess up politics.” What does he mean by this? What are his reasons for making such a statement?

Another important thesis that is being promoted throughout the Collier book’s entirety is that, contrary to the assumption that the abundance of natural resources in a particular country should naturally result in the citizens’ living standards being continually improved, this is far from being the case. The author illustrates the validity of this suggestion with the example of Nigeria – an oil-rich country, where the majority of citizens nevertheless remains utterly impoverished.

According to Collier, this seeming inconsistency can be well explained by the fact that the abundance of natural resources in ‘developing’ countries discourages governmental officials from investing into the diversification of the economy and from creating objective preconditions for these countries’ democratic institutions to properly function. In its turn, this result in the citizens’ intellectual marginalization, as they are being naturally prompted to assess their chances of social advancement, as such that directly depend on their ability to be included in the circle of those who control natural resources.

Therefore, even though that, formally speaking, in recourse-rich ‘developing’ countries there is often a plenty of democracy, there is very little quality to it, “An abundance of resource rents alters how electoral competition is con-ducted. Essentially, it lets in the politics of patronage. Electoral competition forces political parties to attract votes in the most cost-effective manner” (p. 44). In fact, the governmental officials in ‘developing’ countries, which control natural resources and which are being forced to periodically participate in political elections (so that the legitimacy of their rule can be maintained), have a direct interest in keeping impoverished as many of their co-citizens, as possible.

The reason for this is quite apparent – the more impoverished citizens are, the easier it is to provide them with incentives to participate in elections and in publicly held mass-rallies. This is because the cost of the impoverished citizens’ active participation in the earlier mentioned activities is comparatively cheap. For example, it represents a common practice, on the part of politicians in many ‘developing’ countries, to hire people to participate in mass-rallies, which are being staged to prove that these politicians indeed enjoy much of a public support, by paying every ‘supporter’ as little as $1 per day. Moreover, the citizens’ continual impoverishment prevents them from being able to expand their intellectual horizons – hence, making them particularly prone to the cost-effective populist rhetoric.

In addition, being in control of natural resources provides ‘democratically elected’ politicians with an opportunity to generate particularly lucrative commercial profits. And, just as it has always been the case, throughout the course of history – where there is commercial lucrativeness, there is always corruption. This is the reason why, instead of investing money (received from selling natural resources) into rebuilding their countries’ economic and social infrastructures, the representatives of ruling elites in the Third World simply transfer their ill-gotten profits to the offshore bank accounts.

What are Collier’s main recommendations for escaping from the Bottom Billion?

Collier’s main recommendations for escaping from the ‘bottom billion’ can be outlined as follows:

  1. Western countries must put away with the practice of pumping billions of dollars into the ‘bottomless pit’ of the Third World, in the form of a ‘humanitarian aid’. As the author noted, “Aid is unlikely to address the problems of the bottom billion and has become so highly politicized that its design is often pretty dysfunctional” (p. 99). This is because this ‘aid’ rarely reaches the impoverished citizens, while being instead divided among those corrupted officials that supposedly represent the interests of aid-recipients. However, before reconsidering the appropriateness of currently enacted aid-policies, Western politicians should first get rid of the psychological complex of ‘white guilt’ over the legacy of colonialism.
  2. Given the fact that the socio-economic situation in ‘developing’ countries continues to deteriorate rather rapidly, Western politicians should drop the politically-correct rhetoric and to consider moving military units to these countries, in order to reestablish law and order there – just as it used to be the case in good old colonial times. After all, there can be no rationale in respecting the ‘national sovereignty’ of countries, in which even the top-ranking politicians appear utterly unaware of what the concept of statehood stands for, in the first place.
  3. The representatives of organized religions in Western countries (especially Catholics) should cease influencing the citizens’ perception of the ‘bottom billion’ and providing politicians with their ‘valuable’ advices, as to what needs to be done, in order to improve people’s well-being in the Third World countries. This is because; it is specifically due to the religious Westerners’ deliberate efforts that the issue of overpopulation in the ‘failed’ states has gotten out of control.
  4. The governmental authorities in Western countries should exercise a much stricter control over the national banks’ functioning. This needs to be done, in order to prevent the representatives of ruling elites from ‘developing’ countries from being able to ‘launder’ their ill-gotten money. In addition, Western countries should reconsider the practice of providing refuge to the corrupted politicians from Africa and Central Asia, after they end up expelled.
  5. Western countries should lower agricultural trade tariffs, in order to increase the competitiveness of ‘developing’ countries’ economies. In their turn, the Third World countries should also consider removing protectionist barriers on the way of Western exports.

From where you stand or sit, what, if any, can the UAE learn from Paul Collier’s views?

There is indeed a number of lessons that the UAE can learn from the Collier’s book, even though that this country fits the description of a ‘failed state’ the least.

  1. First, the country’s rulers should consider revising the very principles of a political governing. This is because, as of today, the UAE’s ordinary citizens exercise very little influence on the process of the country’s domestic and foreign policies being designed. However, as Collier pointed it out, such state of affairs can hardly be considered appropriate, because it creates objective prerequisites for the elite’s representatives to be tempted to abuse their powers. The UAE citizens’ current prosperity can be explained by the sheer enormousness of the country’s oil-reserves, on the one hand, and by the population’s small size, on the other. This is the reason why, as of today, country’s rulers can well afford sharing their riches with the ordinary citizens. However, this state of affairs will not last forever.
  2. Second, the UAE’s government should apply an additional effort in diversifying the national economy, because it is being only the matter of time, before this country’s oil-resources will be depleted. Therefore, it represents the matter of a crucial importance to ensure that, by the time the economy begins experiencing trade-deficits, the proper functioning of the economy’s subsidiary sectors will compensate for it. This is why; I think that the government should place a particular emphasis on the development of national tourism and banking industries.
  3. Third, the UAE’s top-officials should consider increasing the amount of military expenditures. This is because, as it was implied in Collier’s book, it is being only the matter of time, before Western most powerful countries will begin pursuing the policy of a classical colonialism. Therefore, without having a modern army, capable of confronting ‘limited military interventions for the purpose of restoring democracy’, on the part of Western countries, UAE will not be able to enjoy the independence for much longer. In this respect, the UAE’s military cooperation with such countries as Russia and China may come in particularly useful.
  4. Forth, the government should reconsider the appropriateness of its current stance on work-immigration. This is because, even today, the UAE’s native-born citizens account for less than 20% of the country’s overall population. And, as it was mentioned in Collier’s book, the population’s ethnic diversification makes the outbreak of a civil war much more plausible.

Reference

Collier, P. (2007). The bottom billion: Why the poorest countries are failing and what can be done about it. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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IvyPanda. 2021. "Poverty and Politics in "The Bottom Billion" by Collier." February 25, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/poverty-and-politics-in-the-bottom-billion-by-collier/.

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