Development and West’s
discontents
If the developing world
is to make a substantial impression on international opinion, it
should seize this moment when its prospects of material
prosperity are the brightest in decades. The irony is that while
the West is struggling through a ‘Winter of Discontent’, in
terms of economic fortunes, considerable parts of the developing
world are experiencing robust growth and prosperity. East Asia
today is a case in point.
The tables are turned in an economic sense globally and it
should be a matter for puzzlement that the West’s prescriptions
for economic advancement are currently proving very
questionable. Such contradictions were not lost on External
Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris, who, in the course of his
address to the UN General Assembly on Monday, said with
characteristic eloquence that it is ‘paradoxical that it is the
same countries where the financial crisis originated, which now
seek to provide policy prescriptions to others.’
Today, not only the Western world’s prescriptions for
economic recovery but their paradigms for sustainable growth are
proving to be questionable. If some of the West’s economies are
crumbling like a pack of cards, how could the developing
countries in particular regard their development paradigms as
sacrosanct? This is a prime and challenging issue the world
needs to probe.
This is an intellectual challenge of the highest importance
and no less a global forum than the UN General Assembly needs to
take it up. Whereas the UN Security Council does not adequately
represent the current international balance of forces, since
power continues to be weighted in this body towards the powers
that emerged predominant at the Second World War, the UN General
Assembly, more or less, does. By taking up the issue of
equitable growth and spelling out how this aim could be arrived
at, the UNGS could prove its total effectiveness.
Besides, it could help rally round it the bulk of
international opinion because it has within its fold the
entirety of the UN’s 193 countries. Therefore, what is
considered the developing world needs to seize this moment and
be the determining and driving force behind the world’s
development debate and agenda. Hitherto, this was entirely in
the hands of the West and it should be plain to see that the
so-called development models laid down by the West have failed
badly. Besides, the West has failed in fending for itself and
the inference needs to be drawn that it cannot arrogate to
itself the role of guide on these questions of the first
importance.
In other words, the developing countries need to emerge as
intellectual leaders and the moment could not be riper for this
undertaking than now when the West’s approaches to development
have visibly failed. In view of the economic doldrums in which
the West is finding itself, one could very well tell the West:
‘Physician Heal Thyself.’
Accordingly, the Lankan External Affairs Minister did right
during his address to the UNGS to focus strongly on Sri Lanka’s
economic performance over the past three years in particular. As
could be seen, Sri Lanka has sailed safely through many an
economic storm and proved its economic resilience. Not only has
the country as a whole proved economically vibrant, the Jaffna
district has emerged a front-runner in national economic growth.
Sri Lanka should take the initiative in explaining to the
world how it has emerged victorious. It should not only share
this experience with the rest of the developing world, but with
the West too. In other words, it must showcase its development
strategy. Clearly, Sri Lanka emerged robust because it ended
terror and created peaceful conditions which made growth
possible. Besides, and equally crucially, it has seen the need
to include to the extent possible, people in the decision-making
process. That is, democracy has gone hand-in-hand with
development. |