Mutharika, author of the forthcoming book, "Foreign Investment Security in Sub-Saharan Africa," also named the Charles Nagel Professor of International and Comparative Law
As part of his continuing efforts to serve his native country, A. Peter Mutharika, J.S.D., professor of law, has been named Malawi's Chief Advisor to the President on Constitutional, Legal and International Affairs.
Mutharika currently is on leave in Malawi for the 2007-08 academic year. Upon his return, he will serve as Washington University School of Law's Charles Nagel Professor of International and Comparative Law. The professorship is named for Nagel, LL.B. 1875, who was United States Secretary of Commerce and Labor under President Taft, a member of the Missouri House of Representatives, a member of Washington University's Board of Directors and a part-time law lecturer. The estate of Nagel's law partner, Daniel Noyes Kirby, LL.B. 1888, made the professorship possible.
Peter Mutharika
"Peter's international work, including in his native Malawi, is extraordinary," said Kent Syverud, J.D., law dean and the Ethan A.H. Shepley University Professor. "The chaired professorship recognizes his outstanding contributions to international law as well as to the law school and Washington University communities."
This is not the first time that Mutharika has served as advisor to his brother, Bingu wa Mutharika, who was elected to a five-year term as Malawi's president in 2004. He also was the strategic advisor to his brother's presidential campaign. After the victory, Mutharika helped the president form a 19-member cabinet.
In his current role, Mutharika is advising his brother on the constitutionality of the president's decisions, constitutional reforms and judicial appointments. He also acts as a special presidential envoy to other heads of state and heads of international organizations.
"Over the past several months, I have been on diplomatic missions to six countries on three continents," Mutharika said. "What is challenging about the job is the fascinating interplay of law, politics and diplomacy. We are doing our best, and Malawi's efforts are now receiving international recognition. In addition to the December 2, 2007, front page article in The New York Times, we have received accolades for sound economic management from the World Bank, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, Kofi Annan's Association for a Green Revolution in Agriculture and the Economist Intelligence Unit."
"The job gives me a once in a lifetime opportunity to make a direct contribution to our country and to sometimes see the results directly," he continued. "Here everything is a priority, but we have 'priorities within priorities.' The main issues facing Malawi are issues of food security, which we have now accomplished; better health for our people; better opportunities for education; infrastructural development and better access to clean water by more people."
While in Malawi, Mutharika also is serving as the Advisor to the American Bar Association's Rule of Law Initiative for Africa. The initiative is "a public service project dedicated to promoting the rule of law around the world" as the "most effective long-term antidote to the pressing problems facing the world community today, including poverty, economic stagnation, and conflict." Additionally, he is chairing the Institute for Democracy and Policy Studies, a newly established think tank designed to enhance Malawi's democracy and state capacity.
An expert on international economic law, international law and comparative constitutional law, Mutharika is the author of numerous books and articles. His forthcoming book on international trade, "Foreign Investment Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Emerging Policy and Legal Frameworks," will be released by Martinus Nijhoff Publishers (Leiden, Netherlands) in the spring.
This book describes the efforts by the 48 Sub-Saharan African countries to create conditions that will make foreign direct investment attractive to the region. The first section looks at the policy frameworks that underpin these measures and the second section deals with the emerging legal frameworks for attracting foreign investment.
Mutharika notes that despite rates of return on foreign direct investment that have averaged between 25 and 30 percent over the past several years, the African region has not managed to attract more than 3 percent of global foreign direct investment. According to Mutharika, the inability to attract significant foreign private capital has created economies that are too dependent on foreign aid.
Among his other professional activities, Mutharika continues his work as a member of the Panel of Arbitrators and Panel of Conciliators for the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.
Wednesday, 9 January 2008
Hat's off to pupils helping Malawi
KIND-HEARTED pupils at Waseley Hills High School in Rubery have donated 1,600 knitted baby hats to a premature baby unit in Africa.
The garments were transported to a hospital in Malawi last month after a three-month appeal which was supported by students, their families and friends, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and the local community.
Pupils were inspired after hearing details of a visit to the area by Barnt Green couple Alexis and Gordon Cowie who spent three weeks in August at the Queen Elizabeth Children’s Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi.
During the visit, they helped a project supported by Birmingham Children’s Hospital (BCH) to send nurses and medical items to the poverty-stricken area and saw how much the hospital relied on donations of vital equipment.
"When we returned to the UK, I wanted to start a project that the students in school could get involved with and that would make a big difference to the hospital.
"I decided that a simple project of knitting hats would help support the large number of premature babies that arrive daily and increase a babies survival chances," Alexis added.
And students warmed to the task and learned how to knit during lunchtimes to ensure premature babies on Kangaroo Ward could be given such a vital lifeline.
The school has continued its association with the hospital by sponsoring a local teacher at the hospital, doubling her salary from £5 to £10 a month.
"In an era when you only hear bad things about teenagers, it was a breath of fresh air to see so many of them getting involved and giving so much of their time to help," Alexis added.
The garments were transported to a hospital in Malawi last month after a three-month appeal which was supported by students, their families and friends, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and the local community.
Pupils were inspired after hearing details of a visit to the area by Barnt Green couple Alexis and Gordon Cowie who spent three weeks in August at the Queen Elizabeth Children’s Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi.
During the visit, they helped a project supported by Birmingham Children’s Hospital (BCH) to send nurses and medical items to the poverty-stricken area and saw how much the hospital relied on donations of vital equipment.
"When we returned to the UK, I wanted to start a project that the students in school could get involved with and that would make a big difference to the hospital.
"I decided that a simple project of knitting hats would help support the large number of premature babies that arrive daily and increase a babies survival chances," Alexis added.
And students warmed to the task and learned how to knit during lunchtimes to ensure premature babies on Kangaroo Ward could be given such a vital lifeline.
The school has continued its association with the hospital by sponsoring a local teacher at the hospital, doubling her salary from £5 to £10 a month.
"In an era when you only hear bad things about teenagers, it was a breath of fresh air to see so many of them getting involved and giving so much of their time to help," Alexis added.
Mozambique: Rains in Neighbouring Countries Worsen Floods
The Mozambican meteorological office (INAM) has warned that the forecast for the next 24 hours is continued rain in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
Much of this water will inevitably be funneled into the Zambezi valley, and so the National Water Board (DNA), in its Wednesday bulletin, warns that the level of the Zambezi, already in flood for most of its length in Mozambique, is likely to rise still higher.
The Minister of State Administration, Lucas Chomera, has warned that within two or three days all the islands in the Zambezi will be completely submerged. People living on the islands have already been evacuated.
The only comfort for residents of the Zambezi valley is that the Cahora Bassa dam has not increased its discharges again. They are remaining steady at 6,600 cubic metres a second.
The DNA warns the rain in Zimbabwe will also means slight increases in the levels of the other major rivers in central Mozambique - the Pungue, the Buzi and the Save. The Buzi and the Save had fallen below flood alert level in recent days, while the Pungue has remained ominously high, endangering traffic on the Beira-Zimbabwe road.
Meanwhile, the Mozambican Red Cross (CVM) has said it will make an appeal for international support if this years floods become worse than those of February 2007.
Eunice Mucache, the CVM projects director, interviewed by the Portuguese news agency LUSA, said the organisation already needs 136,000 euros (about 190,000 US dollars) for its relief work. "If the humanitarian situation gets worse, we shall launch an international appeal for help", she declared.
Money raised in this way, Mucache, said would cover the basic expenses of CVM volunteers stationed in central Mozambique. There are currently 274 volunteers involved in latrine construction and health education among the flood victims.
Much of this water will inevitably be funneled into the Zambezi valley, and so the National Water Board (DNA), in its Wednesday bulletin, warns that the level of the Zambezi, already in flood for most of its length in Mozambique, is likely to rise still higher.
The Minister of State Administration, Lucas Chomera, has warned that within two or three days all the islands in the Zambezi will be completely submerged. People living on the islands have already been evacuated.
The only comfort for residents of the Zambezi valley is that the Cahora Bassa dam has not increased its discharges again. They are remaining steady at 6,600 cubic metres a second.
The DNA warns the rain in Zimbabwe will also means slight increases in the levels of the other major rivers in central Mozambique - the Pungue, the Buzi and the Save. The Buzi and the Save had fallen below flood alert level in recent days, while the Pungue has remained ominously high, endangering traffic on the Beira-Zimbabwe road.
Meanwhile, the Mozambican Red Cross (CVM) has said it will make an appeal for international support if this years floods become worse than those of February 2007.
Eunice Mucache, the CVM projects director, interviewed by the Portuguese news agency LUSA, said the organisation already needs 136,000 euros (about 190,000 US dollars) for its relief work. "If the humanitarian situation gets worse, we shall launch an international appeal for help", she declared.
Money raised in this way, Mucache, said would cover the basic expenses of CVM volunteers stationed in central Mozambique. There are currently 274 volunteers involved in latrine construction and health education among the flood victims.
EDITORIAL: China makes another miscalculation
Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳) returned to Taiwan on Tuesday following his unsuccessful last-ditch mission to save diplomatic ties with Malawi.
Malawi's refusal to receive Huang means a switch of recognition to China now looks inevitable and it will mark the latest strike in Beijing's war of attrition to win the allegiance of the nation's allies.
But one could argue that -- when it is made official -- neither China nor Malawi will prosper, as neither China's geopolitical ambitions nor the plight of the citizens of Malawi will be advanced from the establishment of relations.
Apart from the opportunity to further decrease Taiwan's international space and reduce its number of allies, China's other reason for courting African countries is to secure access to the globe's diminishing natural resources, vital if it is to keep its burgeoning economy ticking over and its massive population pacified. In this respect Malawi, with its unexploited deposits of uranium and bauxite, is a useful acquisition.
Beijing reportedly offered the government of Malawi a financial package totaling US$6 billion in return for breaking ties with Taipei and it is understandable that a poverty-stricken nation like Malawi would be tempted by such a generous offer, given that its annual GDP stands at around US$7 billion. It is unlikely, however, that any of this cash will trickle down to the Malawian population and past experience has shown they will not receive the same medical, agricultural and technical help from Beijing as they have from Taipei's missions.
Many other African countries, such as Angola, Mozambique and Sudan, have given China's unfettered access to their natural resources in return for cash, construction projects and economic development, but more often than not the results fail to live up to the promises.
Human rights activists and foreign aid workers in these countries have voiced concerns that, like European nations before them, China's involvement in Africa often only serves to enrich the continent's already corrupt leaders. BBC reports have also detailed how Chinese construction firms bring in Chinese workers because they are unwilling to train the locals and impart vital skills to the Africans. Peasant Chinese farmers are even being sent to work the African land in an attempt to relieve pressure on land in China. In some cases, locals allege that prisoners are being imported to do hard labor.
This has led African activists to question China's motives and has generated accusations of a new era of imperialism.
Ministry officials expect Malawi to announce its decision to recognize China within the next few days, just in time for Saturday's legislative election -- chosen by Beijing to cause maximum embarrassment to the government.
But China should have learned from its previous ham-fisted attempts -- both direct and indirect -- to meddle in Taiwan's elections, that intervention has the opposite effect, producing a galvanizing effect on large sections of the Taiwanese population. The more China attacks, the more people come to detest its belligerent bullying.
In contrast to viewing the latest loss of an ally as an indication of Taiwan's weakness and another step on the road to international obscurity, people will view it as China's latest insult to Taiwan's sovereignty.
Losing one more ally to China does not really do that much harm to Taiwan's interests, but it makes Beijing's job of achieving its dream of "eventual unification" that much harder.
This story has been viewed 469 times.
Malawi's refusal to receive Huang means a switch of recognition to China now looks inevitable and it will mark the latest strike in Beijing's war of attrition to win the allegiance of the nation's allies.
But one could argue that -- when it is made official -- neither China nor Malawi will prosper, as neither China's geopolitical ambitions nor the plight of the citizens of Malawi will be advanced from the establishment of relations.
Apart from the opportunity to further decrease Taiwan's international space and reduce its number of allies, China's other reason for courting African countries is to secure access to the globe's diminishing natural resources, vital if it is to keep its burgeoning economy ticking over and its massive population pacified. In this respect Malawi, with its unexploited deposits of uranium and bauxite, is a useful acquisition.
Beijing reportedly offered the government of Malawi a financial package totaling US$6 billion in return for breaking ties with Taipei and it is understandable that a poverty-stricken nation like Malawi would be tempted by such a generous offer, given that its annual GDP stands at around US$7 billion. It is unlikely, however, that any of this cash will trickle down to the Malawian population and past experience has shown they will not receive the same medical, agricultural and technical help from Beijing as they have from Taipei's missions.
Many other African countries, such as Angola, Mozambique and Sudan, have given China's unfettered access to their natural resources in return for cash, construction projects and economic development, but more often than not the results fail to live up to the promises.
Human rights activists and foreign aid workers in these countries have voiced concerns that, like European nations before them, China's involvement in Africa often only serves to enrich the continent's already corrupt leaders. BBC reports have also detailed how Chinese construction firms bring in Chinese workers because they are unwilling to train the locals and impart vital skills to the Africans. Peasant Chinese farmers are even being sent to work the African land in an attempt to relieve pressure on land in China. In some cases, locals allege that prisoners are being imported to do hard labor.
This has led African activists to question China's motives and has generated accusations of a new era of imperialism.
Ministry officials expect Malawi to announce its decision to recognize China within the next few days, just in time for Saturday's legislative election -- chosen by Beijing to cause maximum embarrassment to the government.
But China should have learned from its previous ham-fisted attempts -- both direct and indirect -- to meddle in Taiwan's elections, that intervention has the opposite effect, producing a galvanizing effect on large sections of the Taiwanese population. The more China attacks, the more people come to detest its belligerent bullying.
In contrast to viewing the latest loss of an ally as an indication of Taiwan's weakness and another step on the road to international obscurity, people will view it as China's latest insult to Taiwan's sovereignty.
Losing one more ally to China does not really do that much harm to Taiwan's interests, but it makes Beijing's job of achieving its dream of "eventual unification" that much harder.
This story has been viewed 469 times.
Malawi growth expected to exceed 7 pct in 2008
Malawi's economy should grow by more than 7 percent in 2008, while inflation is expected to be between 5 percent and 7 percent in the medium term, Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe said on Wednesday.
In an interview with Reuters, Gondwe said that good harvests and growth outside the agricultural sector in the southern African nation would probably bolster economic growth this year, though it would be slightly below growth in 2007.
"A bumper harvest in 2006 supported a rebound in (GDP) growth to 7.4 percent, a larger harvest in 2007 will hold growth at 7.4 percent, and this year growth should remain above 7 percent because growth has spread beyond agriculture," Gondwe said.
Malawi, one of the poorest nations in Africa, is enjoying a modest economic boom that has been sparked by good maize harvests, economic reforms and an increase in aid from Western nations and other international donors.
The country's inflation rate dropped into single digits in early 2007 for the first time in four years, fuelled by lower food prices. That prompted the central bank to continue cutting interest rates.
Inflation is hovering just above 7 percent.
"We expect similar conditions this year, including restrained monetary growth to hold inflation in the neighbourhood of 5 percent to 7 percent in the medium term," Gondwe said.
In an interview with Reuters, Gondwe said that good harvests and growth outside the agricultural sector in the southern African nation would probably bolster economic growth this year, though it would be slightly below growth in 2007.
"A bumper harvest in 2006 supported a rebound in (GDP) growth to 7.4 percent, a larger harvest in 2007 will hold growth at 7.4 percent, and this year growth should remain above 7 percent because growth has spread beyond agriculture," Gondwe said.
Malawi, one of the poorest nations in Africa, is enjoying a modest economic boom that has been sparked by good maize harvests, economic reforms and an increase in aid from Western nations and other international donors.
The country's inflation rate dropped into single digits in early 2007 for the first time in four years, fuelled by lower food prices. That prompted the central bank to continue cutting interest rates.
Inflation is hovering just above 7 percent.
"We expect similar conditions this year, including restrained monetary growth to hold inflation in the neighbourhood of 5 percent to 7 percent in the medium term," Gondwe said.
Uranium to earn Malawi $1.6 bln over decade-finmin
Malawi Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe said on Wednesday the southern African nation is expected to earn more than a billion dollars over the next decade from uranium mining, which kicks off next year.
Malawi last April granted a local subsidiary of Australia's Paladin Resources Ltd (PDN.AX: Quote, Profile, Research) a licence to mine uranium in Kayelekera in the northern part of the country.
Paladin holds an 85 percent stake in the Kayelekera mine through its wholly owned Malawi subsidiary Paladin (Africa) Limited. The rest is owned by the government, which expects revenue of $1.6 billion from its stake in the project.
"The IMF and our treasury officials say, at current prices, uranium could generate output for a decade worth about $1.6 billion," Gondwe told Reuters.
"This is the overall amount the Malawi government is estimated to make as revenue from its 15 percent stake in the uranium project."
Malawi last April granted a local subsidiary of Australia's Paladin Resources Ltd a licence to mine uranium in Kayelekera in the northern part of the country.
Paladin holds an 85 percent stake in the Kayelekera mine through its wholly owned Malawi registered subsidiary Paladin (Africa) Limited. The rest is owned by the Malawi government.
The decision to grant Paladin the licence sparked protests from local human rights groups which feared that mining uranium would pollute lake Malawi, Africa's third largest freshwater lake.
But last month the groups caved in after talks with Paladin and the government. The Kayelekera Uranium Project has an 11 year project life.
Gondwe said that uranium is also expected to raise the country's gross domestic product (GDP) by 10 percent and increase exports over the ten years. Malawi's GDP is about $2 billion.
"Apart from raising GDP the mining would also increase exports by 25 percent in the next 10 years," he said.
Uranium is expected to take over from tobacco as the country's main export, analysts say. Paladin has projected annual uranium output of 3.3 million pounds.
The Central Electricity Generating Board of Great Britian (CEGB) discovered high grade Keyelekera sandstone uranium deposits in the 1980s but failed to mine it because of previaling uranium prices at the time. (Reporting by Mabvuto Banda, Editing by Peter Blackburn)
Malawi last April granted a local subsidiary of Australia's Paladin Resources Ltd (PDN.AX: Quote, Profile, Research) a licence to mine uranium in Kayelekera in the northern part of the country.
Paladin holds an 85 percent stake in the Kayelekera mine through its wholly owned Malawi subsidiary Paladin (Africa) Limited. The rest is owned by the government, which expects revenue of $1.6 billion from its stake in the project.
"The IMF and our treasury officials say, at current prices, uranium could generate output for a decade worth about $1.6 billion," Gondwe told Reuters.
"This is the overall amount the Malawi government is estimated to make as revenue from its 15 percent stake in the uranium project."
Malawi last April granted a local subsidiary of Australia's Paladin Resources Ltd a licence to mine uranium in Kayelekera in the northern part of the country.
Paladin holds an 85 percent stake in the Kayelekera mine through its wholly owned Malawi registered subsidiary Paladin (Africa) Limited. The rest is owned by the Malawi government.
The decision to grant Paladin the licence sparked protests from local human rights groups which feared that mining uranium would pollute lake Malawi, Africa's third largest freshwater lake.
But last month the groups caved in after talks with Paladin and the government. The Kayelekera Uranium Project has an 11 year project life.
Gondwe said that uranium is also expected to raise the country's gross domestic product (GDP) by 10 percent and increase exports over the ten years. Malawi's GDP is about $2 billion.
"Apart from raising GDP the mining would also increase exports by 25 percent in the next 10 years," he said.
Uranium is expected to take over from tobacco as the country's main export, analysts say. Paladin has projected annual uranium output of 3.3 million pounds.
The Central Electricity Generating Board of Great Britian (CEGB) discovered high grade Keyelekera sandstone uranium deposits in the 1980s but failed to mine it because of previaling uranium prices at the time. (Reporting by Mabvuto Banda, Editing by Peter Blackburn)
Foreign minister vows to keep faith with Malawi
Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang said Tuesday that Taiwan is continuing to communicate with Malawi and would keep faith with its African ally.
The foreign minister flew to Africa last week amid reports that Malawi is preparing to sever ties with Taiwan in favor of China. While en route however, Huang was informed via Malawi's embassy in Taipei that his visit would not be convenient.
Arriving back in Taiwan on Tuesday, Huang said that these were testing times for relations between the two countries. But he said Taiwan would keep lines of communication open.
"We will continue to show good faith in our dialogue with Malawi. And I myself am quite happy to go back to Malawi at the earliest time they feel convenient. We will communicate with Malawi frankly and openly. It's probably best for both sides to just let things settle first," said Huang.
Huang also said that Taiwan faces a tricky year ahead diplomatically. He said that Beijing will certainly use Taiwan's legislative and presidential elections this year to launch a renewed diplomatic offensive against Taiwan. He said however that the foreign ministry would rise to meet the challenges ahead.
The foreign minister flew to Africa last week amid reports that Malawi is preparing to sever ties with Taiwan in favor of China. While en route however, Huang was informed via Malawi's embassy in Taipei that his visit would not be convenient.
Arriving back in Taiwan on Tuesday, Huang said that these were testing times for relations between the two countries. But he said Taiwan would keep lines of communication open.
"We will continue to show good faith in our dialogue with Malawi. And I myself am quite happy to go back to Malawi at the earliest time they feel convenient. We will communicate with Malawi frankly and openly. It's probably best for both sides to just let things settle first," said Huang.
Huang also said that Taiwan faces a tricky year ahead diplomatically. He said that Beijing will certainly use Taiwan's legislative and presidential elections this year to launch a renewed diplomatic offensive against Taiwan. He said however that the foreign ministry would rise to meet the challenges ahead.
Malawi's 'free trade' revolt
First World hypocrisy on farm subsidies pushed the African nation to defy the World Bank.
In the bitter winter of 1788-1789, the government of Louis XVI exported almost the entire French grain crop, lining the pockets of aristocrats and landed elites while leaving peasants to starve. The result was the French Revolution, during which the monarchy and aristocracy lost their governing privileges and Louis lost his head.
In the catastrophic harvests from 2001 to 2005, the government of Malawi -- under pressure from the World Bank and donors such as the United States and Britain -- eliminated nearly all its subsidies for fertilizer. The African nation then exported its diminished cash crops for foreign currency with which it was supposed to buy food (from subsidized French and U.S. farmers, as things turned out) for its starving peasants.
The result was the Malawi Revolution, a revolt against the supposedly "free trade" conditions set by foreign-aid donors. Malawi's president defied the World Bank and subsidized fertilizer and seed -- a course of action that has lifted farmers from poverty, nearly tripling crop outputs in two years.
Malawi was not rejecting free trade per se. But like other Third World agricultural nations, Malawi has found that free-trade policies that are supposed to help economies develop in fact seem to make subsidized cash crops from developed countries more competitive.
The World Bank says subsidies impede trade; underwriting seed and fertilizer would give Malawian farmers an unfair advantage. And yet American and French farmers, who are regularly subsidized by their governments, sell grain to Malawi.Is that fair competition? Or just plain hypocrisy? Who can blame the cynical for thinking that the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank -- international institutions dedicated to promoting economic growth and eradicating poverty -- manipulate the rules to the benefit of rich nations? The Third World goose marches to the tune of Milton Friedman, while the First World gander plugs its ears and lets the subsidies flow.
In the end, even U.S. foreign aid gets distorted. According to a report in the New York Times last month, the United States has given Malawi $147 million in food relief since 2002 -- in essence, an undeclared subsidy to American farmers. But it has given only $53 million to help farmers in Malawi grow their own food. And not a nickel for the fertilizer subsidy program.
There are countless examples of the pernicious effect of donor hypocrisy. Argentina played by the IMF's rules earlier this decade, dismantling much of its social agenda as instructed, yet reaped not prosperity but the whirlwind. Not so long ago, ore-rich regions of Africa allowed the World Bank to pump money into mining and other extraction industries, and watched investors walk away with all the profits. The World Bank has since changed its tune, but the damage has been done.
Investors talk about "conditionality," meaning recipient nations must hew the free-market line to secure capital investment, even if that means cutting healthcare, food subsidies, social insurance and other popular government benefits. Only by challenging such market nostrums did Malawi's political leaders preempt potentially catastrophic economic and political consequences -- rural poverty, dependency on foreign food and even famine.
Malawi found a way out, but the danger elsewhere is that nations fed up with First World hypocrisy will throw democracy out with trade-and-aid rules. Argentina's experience made it easy for other Latin American leaders, such as Hugo Chavez, to be demagogues on free trade and undermine democracy through guilt by association. Chavez -- who has consistently thumbed his nose at free-market rules by manipulating the oil industry -- tried to leverage discontent with globalization and free trade to eliminate term limits on his presidency and obliterate constraints on presidential power. He came within a percentage point of getting his way in a vote last month.
In Iraq, free-market zealotry has contributed to the unfolding anarchy. After Baghdad's fall, U.S. administrators seemed convinced that democratization and privatization were the same thing -- that forcing free-market rules on the new government would enhance Iraqi autonomy. It did not, any more than it did in Argentina or Malawi.
The free market can contribute to economic development and even provide a basis for greater democracy, but only if the rules apply equally to the wealthy and the poor. And only if developing nations are permitted enough leeway to help their people (through subsidies, welfare programs or other government interventions) reach a stage at which they are capable of competing with First World economies that have had a century or more head start.
So if bickering U.S. presidential candidates are wondering why the Iraqi economy is in disarray, why Chavez is popular in much of Latin America and why so many people in the developing world see U.S.-led globalization and free trade as a form of servitude, they might take a careful look at Malawi's peaceful and successful economic revolution.
Benjamin R. Barber is distinguished senior fellow at the think tank Demos and author of "Consumed."
In the bitter winter of 1788-1789, the government of Louis XVI exported almost the entire French grain crop, lining the pockets of aristocrats and landed elites while leaving peasants to starve. The result was the French Revolution, during which the monarchy and aristocracy lost their governing privileges and Louis lost his head.
In the catastrophic harvests from 2001 to 2005, the government of Malawi -- under pressure from the World Bank and donors such as the United States and Britain -- eliminated nearly all its subsidies for fertilizer. The African nation then exported its diminished cash crops for foreign currency with which it was supposed to buy food (from subsidized French and U.S. farmers, as things turned out) for its starving peasants.
The result was the Malawi Revolution, a revolt against the supposedly "free trade" conditions set by foreign-aid donors. Malawi's president defied the World Bank and subsidized fertilizer and seed -- a course of action that has lifted farmers from poverty, nearly tripling crop outputs in two years.
Malawi was not rejecting free trade per se. But like other Third World agricultural nations, Malawi has found that free-trade policies that are supposed to help economies develop in fact seem to make subsidized cash crops from developed countries more competitive.
The World Bank says subsidies impede trade; underwriting seed and fertilizer would give Malawian farmers an unfair advantage. And yet American and French farmers, who are regularly subsidized by their governments, sell grain to Malawi.Is that fair competition? Or just plain hypocrisy? Who can blame the cynical for thinking that the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank -- international institutions dedicated to promoting economic growth and eradicating poverty -- manipulate the rules to the benefit of rich nations? The Third World goose marches to the tune of Milton Friedman, while the First World gander plugs its ears and lets the subsidies flow.
In the end, even U.S. foreign aid gets distorted. According to a report in the New York Times last month, the United States has given Malawi $147 million in food relief since 2002 -- in essence, an undeclared subsidy to American farmers. But it has given only $53 million to help farmers in Malawi grow their own food. And not a nickel for the fertilizer subsidy program.
There are countless examples of the pernicious effect of donor hypocrisy. Argentina played by the IMF's rules earlier this decade, dismantling much of its social agenda as instructed, yet reaped not prosperity but the whirlwind. Not so long ago, ore-rich regions of Africa allowed the World Bank to pump money into mining and other extraction industries, and watched investors walk away with all the profits. The World Bank has since changed its tune, but the damage has been done.
Investors talk about "conditionality," meaning recipient nations must hew the free-market line to secure capital investment, even if that means cutting healthcare, food subsidies, social insurance and other popular government benefits. Only by challenging such market nostrums did Malawi's political leaders preempt potentially catastrophic economic and political consequences -- rural poverty, dependency on foreign food and even famine.
Malawi found a way out, but the danger elsewhere is that nations fed up with First World hypocrisy will throw democracy out with trade-and-aid rules. Argentina's experience made it easy for other Latin American leaders, such as Hugo Chavez, to be demagogues on free trade and undermine democracy through guilt by association. Chavez -- who has consistently thumbed his nose at free-market rules by manipulating the oil industry -- tried to leverage discontent with globalization and free trade to eliminate term limits on his presidency and obliterate constraints on presidential power. He came within a percentage point of getting his way in a vote last month.
In Iraq, free-market zealotry has contributed to the unfolding anarchy. After Baghdad's fall, U.S. administrators seemed convinced that democratization and privatization were the same thing -- that forcing free-market rules on the new government would enhance Iraqi autonomy. It did not, any more than it did in Argentina or Malawi.
The free market can contribute to economic development and even provide a basis for greater democracy, but only if the rules apply equally to the wealthy and the poor. And only if developing nations are permitted enough leeway to help their people (through subsidies, welfare programs or other government interventions) reach a stage at which they are capable of competing with First World economies that have had a century or more head start.
So if bickering U.S. presidential candidates are wondering why the Iraqi economy is in disarray, why Chavez is popular in much of Latin America and why so many people in the developing world see U.S.-led globalization and free trade as a form of servitude, they might take a careful look at Malawi's peaceful and successful economic revolution.
Benjamin R. Barber is distinguished senior fellow at the think tank Demos and author of "Consumed."
Africa sends us miscreants, but also quiet, hard-working people
If you catch a sea cucumber and put it in a bucket it emits a reddish, disgusting-looking sort of ink.
The ink is actually the contents of their stomachs.
Sea cucumbers, when threatened, puke their last meal in the hope that whatever is attacking them will snack on their vomit and leave them alone.
I know this because my son and his cousins developed an interest in sea cucumbers over the holidays while fishing in the river at Kenton-on-Sea.
I was delegated to find out more about these ugly things.
I was also appointed to sell fresh sea cucumbers to upcountry holiday-makers — a task which I only half-heartedly attempted .
That was my holiday; day after blissful day of watching little boys fish things out of the sea and rivers, interspersed with rounds of golf.
Not everyone was so lucky.
I remember Zomba as an almost archetypically chaotic African town; rutted roads, clapped-out trucks, colonial- era buildings needing a lick of paint, and a colourful market.
It’s the colours of the Zomba market that I remember most vividly from my visit four or five years ago — gaudy textiles and piles of red onions.
The other thing I remember about Zomba is how remarkably happy all the people seemed to be.
Remarkably happy for one of the poorest — if most beautiful — countries in the world.
Long ago Zomba used to be the capital of Nyasaland.
Nowadays it’s just another town in another country somewhere in Africa. I was in Zomba on that great perk of journalism: the freebie.
At the end of our splendid tour, our group was entertained in the new capital, Lilongwe, at a cocktail party attended by a cabinet minister.
In the 1970s and ’80s white South Africans used to flock to Malawi (remember the “Warm heart of Africa”).
Since democracy (ours and theirs) we seem to have given up on poor old Malawi; which is a shame because it is a truly sublime holiday destination.
These days, instead of us sending them tourists, they send us workers and entrepreneurs. Not all of them are legal.
One of the legal ones is Cornelius Naphulu. I was introduced to Naphulu, the upholsterer, by my wife after getting home from the golf course.
I had spent the morning just after New Year at the course, bunking work and waiting for the rest of South Africa to get back to work.
The golf course is a 90-second drive from my home. My house, on the other hand, is a two-hour multi-taxi odyssey from Naphulu’s home in Krugersdorp.
That day the odyssey had taken him two-and-a-half hours because of a roadblock in Florida.
My wife had hired Naphulu to stitch bits of torn old blue shirts into a duvet cover for our son. The bits of blue fabric included the shirt I wore at our wedding; a linen shirt bought in Barcelona, the shirt of a great friend now living in Libya.
Naphulu told me that he was from Zomba. He told me how he had come to South Africa three years ago to seek greener pastures.
He hadn’t seen his family (wife and three kids aged 16 to 22) for two years. Like so many of the self-employed, Naphulu, 48, is loath to turn down work.
While I was inspecting sea- cucumber catches on the beaches of the Eastern Cape, Naphulu and his computer- technician-turned-barman brother were working away at their jobs in Krugersdorp .
Africa has sent this country thousands of miscreants; drug traffickers, thieves and brutes.
It has also sent us thousands of quiet, hard-working entrepreneurs such as Naphulu, whose spirit of enterprise and determination to make a better life for themselves can only enrich our country — and theirs. You can contact Naphulu on 073-245-4760.
The ink is actually the contents of their stomachs.
Sea cucumbers, when threatened, puke their last meal in the hope that whatever is attacking them will snack on their vomit and leave them alone.
I know this because my son and his cousins developed an interest in sea cucumbers over the holidays while fishing in the river at Kenton-on-Sea.
I was delegated to find out more about these ugly things.
I was also appointed to sell fresh sea cucumbers to upcountry holiday-makers — a task which I only half-heartedly attempted .
That was my holiday; day after blissful day of watching little boys fish things out of the sea and rivers, interspersed with rounds of golf.
Not everyone was so lucky.
I remember Zomba as an almost archetypically chaotic African town; rutted roads, clapped-out trucks, colonial- era buildings needing a lick of paint, and a colourful market.
It’s the colours of the Zomba market that I remember most vividly from my visit four or five years ago — gaudy textiles and piles of red onions.
The other thing I remember about Zomba is how remarkably happy all the people seemed to be.
Remarkably happy for one of the poorest — if most beautiful — countries in the world.
Long ago Zomba used to be the capital of Nyasaland.
Nowadays it’s just another town in another country somewhere in Africa. I was in Zomba on that great perk of journalism: the freebie.
At the end of our splendid tour, our group was entertained in the new capital, Lilongwe, at a cocktail party attended by a cabinet minister.
In the 1970s and ’80s white South Africans used to flock to Malawi (remember the “Warm heart of Africa”).
Since democracy (ours and theirs) we seem to have given up on poor old Malawi; which is a shame because it is a truly sublime holiday destination.
These days, instead of us sending them tourists, they send us workers and entrepreneurs. Not all of them are legal.
One of the legal ones is Cornelius Naphulu. I was introduced to Naphulu, the upholsterer, by my wife after getting home from the golf course.
I had spent the morning just after New Year at the course, bunking work and waiting for the rest of South Africa to get back to work.
The golf course is a 90-second drive from my home. My house, on the other hand, is a two-hour multi-taxi odyssey from Naphulu’s home in Krugersdorp.
That day the odyssey had taken him two-and-a-half hours because of a roadblock in Florida.
My wife had hired Naphulu to stitch bits of torn old blue shirts into a duvet cover for our son. The bits of blue fabric included the shirt I wore at our wedding; a linen shirt bought in Barcelona, the shirt of a great friend now living in Libya.
Naphulu told me that he was from Zomba. He told me how he had come to South Africa three years ago to seek greener pastures.
He hadn’t seen his family (wife and three kids aged 16 to 22) for two years. Like so many of the self-employed, Naphulu, 48, is loath to turn down work.
While I was inspecting sea- cucumber catches on the beaches of the Eastern Cape, Naphulu and his computer- technician-turned-barman brother were working away at their jobs in Krugersdorp .
Africa has sent this country thousands of miscreants; drug traffickers, thieves and brutes.
It has also sent us thousands of quiet, hard-working entrepreneurs such as Naphulu, whose spirit of enterprise and determination to make a better life for themselves can only enrich our country — and theirs. You can contact Naphulu on 073-245-4760.
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