In this long plea where he begins by paying homage to the Algerian youth, Professor Abderrahmane Mebtoul analyses the handicaps, both political and economic, which overwhelm Algeria despite its immense potential. Then projecting himself into the perspective, he evokes the scenarios of the future and pleads with a lot of arguments and a great conviction, for “an indispensable global reform” (…) by flattening the differences through dialogue and consultation. He notably insists that The cries Algeria’s youth for a profound change must be heard.
So, here is this contribution from Prof.Abderrahmane Mebtoul, Economist, International Expert as posted on AFRICAPRESSE. PARIS on March 5, 2019, in French.
The strong mobilization of 22 February and 1st March implies a good analysis of the aspirations of civil society. Certainly not the rentier living in the salons, but the one that we saw on the street, the youth who does not want to be recovered.
The lesson given to the leader of the
Workers’ Party, which was booed, should serve as lessons. At a time when the
world is experiencing political, social and economic upheavals, where Algeria
is being challenged by some 70% of its population claiming genuine democratic
reforms – a condition of harmonious and sustainable development in the face of
the relentless globalization – we must pay a great homage to our youth who have
not experienced the drama of the years 1990-1999, and yet want a change.
Let us salute its political maturity
and peaceful marches without violence, where political parties in all
tendencies have played no role in mobilizing. Let us also salute our security
forces who have managed in a modern way these events which must be meditated
profoundly by the parties of power and their satellites – weakly
representative, not to say non-representative – as well as by any of the
opposition, which was off-track.
A partisan system disconnected from
the society
According to some sources, the number
of political parties is approaching sixty, often with unnatural alliances,
whereas in democratic countries these alliances are made by ideological
affinity and a clear programme.
Also, except for ten of them, the
others show a formal and ostentatious presence in the elections… Furnishing
the emptiness, powerless almost always to act on the course of things and to
articulate clearly the concerns and aspirations of the real society.
Because of the internal crises that
periodically shake them, the discredit that strikes the majority of them, the
defiance of them and the partisan activism, the current political formations
today have a low capacity to carry out a work of mobilization and efficient
management, to contribute significantly to the political socialising, and thus
to make an effective contribution to the work of national recovery.
As proof, the last parliamentary
elections, both 2012 and 2017: considering the null and official data of the
Ministry of the Interior, the 3/4 of the Algerian population are not
represented by the elected officials.
The discredit which strikes political
groups, both from the power and from the opposition, must give way to credible,
non-artificially created formations, subject therefore to the possibility of an
objective assessment of the status and role which must be theirs in a society
that aspires to join the ranks of democratic societies. These formations will
have to be more capable of mobilizing society than in the years to come,
reforms – long deferred to guarantee a fictitious, transient social peace –
will be very painful.
An atomized civil society with an
informal dominant
Civil society in Algeria is
shattered. Contrary to the accepted and illusory ideas of past years, in a
context of social disintegration and “satellite TV” youth, most
official religious brotherhoods have less and less impact.
On the other hand, the confusion that
currently prevails in the national association movement makes it difficult to
devise a strategy to take into account and mobilize it. Its diversity, the
politico-ideological currents that pass through it and its complex relationship
to society and the State add to this confusion and make imperative an urgent
reflection for its restructuring, its current state reflecting the major
fractures have occurred in the national political system. Thus, it will soon be
divided into four fundamentally different civil societies: three at the level
of the real sphere and one dominant in the informal sphere.
The most important segment of this
civil society, the privileged and often unique interlocutor of the public authorities,
is constituted by appendages of power, located on the periphery of the parties
in power and whose officials are sometimes deputies, senators, living in large
part of the transfer of the rentier annuity. In fact, those who pride
themselves on mobilizing millions of voters live in air-conditioned lounges,
disconnected from society.
The second segment is that of a civil
society frankly rooted in the Islamist movement, with there also appendages of
legal Islamic parties.
The third segment is that of a civil
society claiming the democratic movement. Poorly structured, despite the
relatively large number of associations that comprise it, and undermined by
contradictions in relation, among others, with the question of leadership. For
these first three civil societies, their impact on the turnout in the last
local and legislative elections, despite their accession, was relatively low.
We finally have an informal,
unorganized, totally atomized civil society. It is by far the most active and
important, as well as we saw on February 22nd and the 1st March 2019, with
precise codifications forming a dense mesh.
Without the intelligent integration
of this informal sphere – not by authoritarian bureaucratic measures, but by
the involvement of society itself – it will not be necessary to rely on a real
dynamism of civil society. Because when a state wants to impose its own rules
disconnected from social practices, the society has its own rules that allow it
to function with its own organizations.
Three scenarios for Algeria from 2019
to 2025
The dynamism of the partisan system
and of civil society in order to make it an effective instrument of the framing
of forces and a powerful lever of their mobilization is likely to succeed only
if the movement that composes it, is not in the service of ambitions personal
unmentionable and sometimes dubious.
We can foresee the different
scenarios possible depending on the state of the power relations at the
internal level, considering the evolution of the strategy of the actors at the
external level.
The first scenario: failure of the reform process.
The conditions of failure are real
and combined in the legal and economic environment in case of lack of
visibility and coherence in the economic and social approach. Risk accentuated
by the annuitants at the internal level and certain segments of external actors
maintaining informal relations and who are not interested in deepening the
reforms (loss of contracts in case of transparent tender notices).
On the other hand, the ambiguity of
legal texts allows for the legal blockade of reforms, while the multiplicity of
speakers allows for the confusion of prerogatives. Other parameters
contributing to the risk of failure: the fragility of internal private
investment capacity, stabilization plans that have made forced savings to the
detriment of the average layers that have impoverished; the mistrust generated
by internal and external investors through continual changes in legislation,
while the stability must be rigorous; populist speeches on account settlements
on the sensitive subject of taxation, and finally the high pressure of a
fraction of the internal and external actors linked to the interests of the
annuity, that to preserve protectionist postures because the liberalisation
Destroyed a fraction of the annuity.
The second scenario is the status quo.
It would lead to the regression for both social and physical, the world being in perpetual motion. This hypothesis will prepare the conditions of failure by imputing the current social conditions (poverty and unemployment) to reforms, which, except macroeconomic stabilization, are timid in Algeria (microeconomic and institutional reforms, Issues of future years), or to technical bodies while petrol is the absence of political will (neutralization of power relations).
This status quo will participate in a
programmed failure and would be suicidal for the future of the economy and
Algerian society. This is maintained by the confusion of some concepts
assimilating false reforms to the sale of national heritage.
Thus, according to the proponents of
this analysis, the reforms would be dictated by the major global oil companies,
the IMF and the World Bank. A posture reminding us of the Times of the
Inquisition against those who advocated the market economy and the
establishment of democracy.
The third scenario is the success of solidarity-specific political and economic reforms as contained in the legal, economic and political environment of Algeria, thanks to a youth increasingly aware of the country’s future issues.
The rupture of the previous system, in view of historical experiences, only occurred through violent but short-lived revolutions. Successful experiences have shown that the gradualist pathway inserting the Conservatives into a reformist dynamic has involved a profound redevelopment of the structures of power and new people acquired in the reforms with cultural demystification, the devastating rumours in the opinion are only the translation of the weakness of the communication system, especially in Algeria where the oral route is predominant.
There is, therefore, therefore, an
urgent need for close cooperation between the supporters of the reforms, the
political parties, the associations and, in general, all civil society, the
administration, public and private enterprises, the collectives of Workers,
trade unions, flattening differences through dialogue and consultation.
The goal will be to make the
strategic objective emerge through a symbiosis of individual interests and
collective interest, showing that the medium-term winners of the reforms will
be more numerous than the short-term losers.
The support of external actors for
their interests in order to avoid the negative effects of the Destabilisation,
but above all the mobilisation of the favorable internal actors because no
country can make the reforms in our place, the fate of Algeria is in the hands
of Algerian and Algerian.
Algeria, an indispensable actor for
Euro-Mediterranean and African stability, can lead to a process of inseparable
reforms of a profound democratisation of its society. In the business world,
feelings do not exist, only reforms will allow economic growth and the
reduction of the nagging problems of unemployment and poverty. Any obstacle to
these reforms only decreases the rate of growth, increases the country’s
insecurity and, Over there, contributes to social and political
destabilization. Time being money, any delay in the process of reforms could
result in more important social costs that could be supported by the most
disadvantaged.
A strategic vision to surpass a
multifaceted crisis
It is time to have foresight in the
medium and long term, in order to correct the mistakes of the past, like
navigating on sight by ignoring the aspirations of society.
The strategic question is: shall we
go towards a real salutary change by reorganizing society, due to the global
geostrategic upheavals announced between 2019-2025-2030 or, thanks to the
passive distribution of the annuity, shall we simply replaster, postponing the
inevitable social tensions?
These are important enough reasons to
seriously consider reorganizing the partisan system and civil society so that
they can fulfil the function that is them in any democratic political system
that reconciles modernity with our authenticity, far from administrative
injunctions.
The redesign of the state, including
administration, integration of the informal sphere, reforms of financial,
fiscal, customs and socio-educational systems, new mechanisms of regulation and
social cohesion, optimisation of the effect of public expenditure and the new
management of infrastructures based on the rationalization of budget choices…
and pose the problem of the future of the Algerian economy so as to reconnect
it with growth and, consequently, to alleviate unemployment.
As I have often recalled, in this
month of February 2019 – and this is not today – Algeria is going through a crisis
of governance, which implies having a strategic vision of the future of Algeria
on the 2030 horizon.
Algeria needs for its national and
international credibility, geostrategic tensions at the level of the region and
the inevitable budgetary tensions between 2019-2020-2025 to bring all its
children into their diversity and not to divide us, requiring a minimum of
economic and social consensus that could not mean unanimism, a sign of
decadence of any society in order to stabilise the social body.
The reforms – beyond the natural
resistance of the pensioners – by rehabilitating good governance (the fight
against corruption, in concrete terms and not only by legislation) and human
capital, are the basis for development. The cries of youth in these months of
February and March 2019 for a profound change must be heard so that Algeria can
meet the challenges of the 21st century characterized, in this constantly
interdependent world, by major geostrategic upheavals in the security,
economic, political, social and cultural fields.
Faced with the inevitable budgetary
tensions and the geostrategic stakes of 2019-2025-2030, the success of the
reforms must be based on four axes: gathering, rebasing of the state,
democratisation and economic reforms accommodating economic efficiency and
profound social justice.
From Brussels to Basra, gilets jaunes have brought visibility to people and their grievances per Jon Henley, The Guardian’s European affairs correspondent published on December 21, 2018, is the story of a movement that is increasingly apparent throughout the world and in particular in the MENA region .
A “yellow vest” protest against corruption and unemployment in Basra, Iraq. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
It started on 10 October, with
a Facebook appeal launched by two fed-up truck drivers
from the Seine-et-Marne department, east of Paris, calling for a “national
blockade” of France’s road network in protest against rising fuel prices.
Within days the campaign had
gathered 200,000 backers and spawned hundreds of local spinoffs across the
country; two weeks later, a video urging motorists to display their hi-vis
yellow vests behind their windscreens in solidarity garnered 4m views.
The gilets jaunes, named
after the vest drivers are required to carry in their vehicles, were born, and
since 17 November, the movement’s first nationwide day of action, its
sustained, sometimes violent protests have rocked France.
But not only France.
Mostly leaderless, unstructured and organised on social media, “yellow vest”
demonstrations have multiplied internationally, from Belgium to Bulgaria,
Serbia to Sweden and Israel to Iraq.
The popular anti-establishment
insurrection by France’s squeezed middle, living mostly in rural or
deindustrialised areas and small or medium-sized towns far from the globalised
cities where the wealth of the 21st century is increasingly concentrated, has
found a global echo.
As in France, where it has
overwhelming public support, these diverse national movements have brought together
people with disparate demands and political views but one overriding and common
complaint: they cannot make ends meet.
“If the hike in the price of
fuel triggered the yellow vest movement, it was not the root cause,” said the geographer Christophe Guilluy. “The
anger runs deeper, the result of an economic and cultural relegation that began
in the 80s … Western elites have gradually forgotten a people they no longer
see.”
A gilets jaunes protests in Brussels, Belgium. Photograph: nicolaslandemard.com/Le Pictorium/Barcroft Images
Cheap, readily available,
easily identifiable and above all representing an obligation imposed by the
state, the the yellow hi-vis vest itself has proved an inspired choice of
symbol and has plainly played a big part in the movement’s rapid spread.
“The point, remember, of the
yellow vest is to ensure its wearer is visible on the road,” Guilluy said. “And
whatever the outcome of this conflict, the gilets jaunes have won in terms of
what really counts: the war of cultural representation. Working-class and lower
middle-class people are visible again.”
The revolt spread first to French-speaking Belgium, where
400 people have been arrested over the past few weeks as police used teargas
and water cannon to disperse crowds pelting them with flares, cobblestones and
billiard balls, and setting cars and trucks alight in Brussels, Charleroi, and
elsewhere.
Dismissive, like their
counterparts in France, of all their country’s established parties, Belgium’s
gilets jaunes, who have demanded the resignation of the prime minister,
Charles Michel,aim to launch a Mouvement citoyen belge (Belgian
citizens’ movement)to compete innext year’s European and
Belgian federal elections.
There have been largely peaceful
yellow vest protests in half a dozen Dutch cities including Rotterdam, where marcher Ieneke
Lambermont said her children had to “pay taxes everywhere, and can’t get
housing anymore”. Things were “not going well in Dutch society”, she said. “The
social welfare net we grew up with is gone.”
A protest in Rotterdam. Photograph: Robin Utrecht/REX/Shutterstock
In Italy an anti-austerity,
anti-EU protest group inspired by the gilets jaunes has garnered thousands of supporters online and
plans a large rally in January, while in Spain Facebook groups of chalecos
amarillos plan to begin demonstrating in Madrid in the new year because
“it’s worse here than in France”.
Protesters wearing yellow
vests have also been seen in Sweden, Greece and the UK, where a group of
pro-Brexit campaigners blocked Westminster Bridge and on Wednesday at least two
accosted the pro-European Tory MP Anna Soubry outside parliament. In Germany,
both the far right and the far left organised yellow-vest protests
– separately – in Berlin and Munich.
Canada
spawns its own yellow vest protests – with extra rightwing populism
Protesters wearing yellow vests in Bulgaria, the
EU’s poorest member, have blocked major roads including the border crossings
with Turkey and Greece, demanding not just cheaper fuel and higher living
standards but the departure of a government they likened to “the mafia”.
A civil rights organisation and far-right
politicians have adopted yellow vests – for different reasons – in Serbia,
while beyond Europe gilets jaunes protests have also occurred in Canada (over the UN migration pact), Israel and Jordan (over corruption and the high
cost of living).
In Tunisia, a Facebook group
of gilets rouges is complaining about the country’s ailing economy; in Basra, Iraq, gilets jauneshave been protesting against high unemployment,
corruption and the terrible general state of the city; and authorities in Egypt
are so worried about the movement spreading they have banned sales of yellow vests.
As
2018 draws to a close….
… we’re asking readers to make
an end of year or ongoing contribution in support of The Guardian’s independent
journalism.
Three years ago we set out to
make The Guardian sustainable by deepening our relationship with our readers.
The same technologies that connected us with a global audience had also shifted
advertising revenues away from news publishers. We decided to seek an approach
that would allow us to keep our journalism open and accessible to everyone,
regardless of where they live or what they can afford.
More than one million readers
have now supported our independent, investigative journalism through
contributions, membership or subscriptions, which has played such an important
part in helping The Guardian overcome a perilous financial situation globally.
We want to thank you for all of your support. But we have to maintain and build
on that support for every year to come.
Sustained support from our readers
enables us to continue pursuing difficult stories in challenging times of
political upheaval, when factual reporting has never been more critical. The
Guardian is editorially independent – our journalism is free from commercial
bias and not influenced by billionaire owners, politicians or shareholders. No
one edits our editor. No one steers our opinion. This is important because it
enables us to give a voice to those less heard, challenge the powerful and hold
them to account. Readers’ support means we can continue bringing The Guardian’s
independent journalism to the world.
Please make an end of year
contribution today to help us deliver the independent journalism the world
needs for 2019 and beyond.
Here are the wise words of the guru-to-be named Idriss Jazairy, Executive Director of the Geneva Centre for the Advancement of Human Rights and Global Dialogue. These words are more likely to be of some use in the MENA region where there are presently numerous “Challenges ahead for the fourth estate.”
Media has the power to transform societies through enhancing enlightenment and active citizenry. Observers occasionally refer tothe media as the fourth estate owing to its influential role to furtherenhancing the plurality of opinions and ideas. A free press is indispensablefor facilitating good governance and transparency. It strengthens theaccountability of governments as citizens can critically assess the activitiesof incumbents through information provided by the media. It is indispensablefor facilitating good governance and transparent societies.
Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights defends
freedom of expression and the right to information. It enables press freedom to
become a reality: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and
expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference
and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and
regardless of frontiers.”
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) has been quoted as saying
that “the ink of the scholar is holier than the blood of the martyr.”
However, significant challenges lie ahead limiting freedom of the press.
Firstly, journalists have had at times to pay a high toll for the expression of
truth as they see it. Thus according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, more than
1,300 journalists have been killed since 1992. Among these victims,
approximately 65% were murdered, 22% perished owing to crossfire and combat,
whereas 12% lost their lives owing to dangerous assignments. Many of those
deaths remain unresolved and perpetrators are rarely brought to justice as “complete
impunity” prevails in more than 80% of the cases.
The 2017 World Press Freedom report issued by
Reporters Without Borders likewise suggests that violent extremism has put
significant constraints on the ability of the press to operate freely and carry
out their duties. The conflicts in Yemen, Libya, Iraq and Syria, the report
underlines, have enabled insurgents to create black holes for reporting.
Journalists have the right to work free from the
threat of violence and free from the threat of fear in their capacity as
transmitters of information to the public. Their lives should not be put at
stake for merely putting Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration into
practice.
Secondly, the accountability of media needs to be
strengthened so that it represents the public’s interests. After the so-called
“War on Terror”, hate speech and online bigotry have rapidly been on the
rise targeting specifically religious minorities. This has been followed by a
misconceived conflation between terrorism, Islam and the Arab identity, which
has given rise to marginalization, bigotry and discrimination.
In the context where social media contributes to
the dissemination of fake news without accountability, traditional media have
an important role to play to promote awareness of false and inaccurate
information. They may enlighten world public opinion by offering alternative
narratives on contentious issues contributing to plurality of views and
offering a voice to the voiceless.
At the 25 June 2018 World Conference on “Religions,
Creeds and Value Systems: Joining Forces to Enhance Equal Citizenship Rights”
held at the United Nations Office in Geneva (UNOG) under the Patronage of HRH
Prince El Hassan bin Talal of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, it was suggested
by the panellists to better harness the power of media by promoting positive
stories about religion and culture.
It was also proposed that we, as global citizens,
should never fear the stranger as differences enrich our societies. Media can
play a more influential role in addressing prevailing misconceptions and
misunderstandings that exist between people. The use of contemporary phobic
language triggering social exclusion and religious intolerance is a threat to
democracy and to diversity. Incitements to hatred, violence and bigotry should
be condemned as it exacerbates religious divisions within communities. It also
gives rise to a populistic tidal wave that is taking root in several countries.
Media has a “moral and social responsibility”
in “combating discrimination and in promoting intercultural understanding
(…)” as stipulated in Principle 9 of the Camden Principles on Freedom
of Expression and Equality. By reversing the trend of offering simplistic and
misconceived generalizations not grounded in reality, media can become a
catalyst for social inclusion by promoting a culture of peace, harmony and
tolerance. This would be in line with the objectives laid out in the 2002 “Rabat Plan of Action on the prohibition of
advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to
discrimination, hostility or violence” and in UN HRC Resolution 16/18 entitled “Combating
intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatization of, and discrimination,
incitement to violence, and violence against persons based on religion or
belief” that condemns “any advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes
incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence, whether it involves the
use of print, audio-visual or electronic media or any other mean.”
Societies that demonstrate respect for press freedom and the safety and
freedom of journalists will make a valuable contribution to the fulfilment of
the provisions set forth in SDG 16 on Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions of
the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
While international media focus on all those migrants’ influx to Europe, the phenomenon is a growing one but in between the African regions and countries as from a recent study of the International Organization for Migration relating to an investigation on year 2015. The intra-African migration 2016 streams is here looked at further to Algeria facing Sub Saharan Migration with Difficulty, knowing that demographers consider that migration will be a significant variable of any adjustment up to 2050, due to which 2 or 3 billion additional people are expected whilst the effects of climate change would probably be felt by now with some areas no longer able to feed any additional population.
Human migration is the movement of the place of life of individuals. It is probably as old as humanity itself, growing 2 percent a year. It measures a stock and includes voluntary as well as forced migration. Internal migrations within countries are also increasing, but it is then referred to population displacement.
Statistics show a recent decrease in the very large migrations that tend to be of the chosen immigration favourable to the brain and skills drain out of poor countries, at the expense of the latter. The characteristics of the current migratory phenomenon are about the diversification of countries of origin and destination, as well as the forms taken by the migration phenomenon itself.
Estimates of capital repatriation to the country of origin from the host country show that these are at least equal if not higher than the amount of financial aid given by the so-called ‘wealthy’ countries to the poorest ones.
Immigration today means the entry into a country or a particular geographical area, of foreign people for either a long stay or to settle.
The word immigration comes from the Latin in-migrare that means ‘falling into place.” In addition to this phenomenon are there are those of dual citizenship and nomadism. The notion of immigrant is based on the statement of the place of birth and nationality. The immigrant is the one who left his place of birth or domiciliation for another place or another State, in order to settle there permanently.
According to international experts immigration can have several causes:
Economic: job search, greater prosperity, better working conditions. This is the main cause of current emigration;
Political: the escape of an oppressive regime.
Religious: hope of a more tolerant land.
Climate: taste for a different meteorological environment (typically warmer and sunnier);
Tax: will to enter a more favourable legal and financial environment. This is particular to the highest strata of society and in favour of tax havens.
For Africa, the international organization in its 2016 study highlights the following intra-African regional streams:
West Africa… 5,927,519 people
East Africa… 4,583,385 people
Southern Africa… 2,761,732 people
Central Africa… 2,039,776 people
Maghreb… 319,954 people
Top countries of departure
Burkina Faso . . 425,661 of which. . . 1,294,323 in Ivory Coast
DR of Congo . . 192,697 of which . . 303,580 in Uganda
Sudan . . . 190,255 of which . . 552,391 in South Sudan
Mali . . . 902,272 of which . . . 356,019 in Ivory Coast
Top host countries
Ivory Coast . . 2,093,354 of which . . 1,294,323 from Burkina Faso
South Africa . . 1,230,732 including . . 475,403 from Zimbabwe
Nigeria . . 1,076,442 including . . 351,985 from Benin
Ethiopia . . 1,063,000 including . . 375,202 from South Sudan
For the Maghreb region, the study cites 319.954 people.
Algerian experts advise these data ought to be taken with all due precaution, and;
40% of migrants, say experts of migratory movements, came into Algeria to work;
40% are in a kind of ‘transit’ to the European continent; these are the most educated and they aim to settle in Spain, in Italy or in France and
20% of these migrants present in Algeria would return home, but cannot do so.
In the face of the magnitude of the phenomenon, the Government recently revealed the preparation of a national file to record all African migrants, and the development of legislation on asylum seekers and refugees.
The Minister of the Interior stated, that in addition to the various possibilities of employment in either construction sites or among others, Algeria would as always be considering itself in need of as varied a workforce in as varied areas of activities as can be had.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs on the other hand stated that the official position of the country as to be keen in welcoming all stressing that Algeria has always been in solidarity with Africa but that there is reason to pay attention to its national security, and that broad international agreement is needed to share the migratory stocks, but through a long-term resolution of the true development of Africa. This should be based on a win/win partnership for each and every party far from any spirit of domination. ademmebtoul@gmail.com
The best way to go about discussing the topic covered by the proposed article written by Anne-Marie Slaughter, President and Chief Executive Officer, New America and published on Monday 13 February 2017 by the WEF is to recall the failure and eventual collapse of the former Soviet Union and what caused its abrupt end not so far ago. Is it lack of these 3 core responsibilities of every government of any nation discussed here, from the agenda of the successive governments?
Or was it as many see it, like in those MENA’s region so-called republics due to that sprinkle of socialistic orientations in their political strategy of the 60s and 70s ? Any thoughts ?
Or is the whole thing a soft reminder directed towards the new tenant of the White House of his basic duties?
The oldest and simplest justification for government is as protector: protecting citizens from violence.
Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan describes a world of unrelenting insecurity without a government to provide the safety of law and order, protecting citizens from each other and from foreign foes. The horrors of little or no government to provide that function are on global display in the world’s many fragile states and essentially ungoverned regions. And indeed, when the chaos of war and disorder mounts too high, citizens will choose even despotic and fanatic governments, such as the Taliban and ISIS, over the depredations of warring bands.
The idea of government as protector requires taxes to fund, train and equip an army and a police force; to build courts and jails; and to elect or appoint the officials to pass and implement the laws citizens must not break. Regarding foreign threats, government as protector requires the ability to meet and treat with other governments as well as to fight them. This minimalist view of government is clearly on display in the early days of the American Republic, comprised of the President, Congress, Supreme Court and departments of Treasury, War, State and Justice.
Protect and provide
The concept of government as provider comes next: government as provider of goods and services that individuals cannot provide individually for themselves. Government in this conception is the solution to collective action problems, the medium through which citizens create public goods that benefit everyone, but that are also subject to free-rider problems without some collective compulsion.
The basic economic infrastructure of human connectivity falls into this category: the means of physical travel, such as roads, bridges and ports of all kinds, and increasingly the means of virtual travel, such as broadband. All of this infrastructure can be, and typically initially is, provided by private entrepreneurs who see an opportunity to build a road, say, and charge users a toll, but the capital necessary is so great and the public benefit so obvious that ultimately the government takes over.
A more expansive concept of government as provider is the social welfare state: government can cushion the inability of citizens to provide for themselves, particularly in the vulnerable conditions of youth, old age, sickness, disability and unemployment due to economic forces beyond their control. As the welfare state has evolved, its critics have come to see it more as a protector from the harsh results of capitalism, or perhaps as a means of protecting the wealthy from the political rage of the dispossessed. At its best, however, it is providing an infrastructure of care to enable citizens to flourish socially and economically in the same way that an infrastructure of competition does. It provides a social security that enables citizens to create their own economic security.
The future of government builds on these foundations of protecting and providing. Government will continue to protect citizens from violence and from the worst vicissitudes of life. Government will continue to provide public goods, at a level necessary to ensure a globally competitive economy and a well-functioning society. But wherever possible, government should invest in citizen capabilities to enable them to provide for themselves in rapidly and continually changing circumstances.
Not surprisingly, this vision of government as investor comes from a deeply entrepreneurial culture. Technology reporter Gregory Ferenstein has polled leading Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and concluded that they “want the government to be an investor in citizens, rather than as a protector from capitalism. They want the government to heavily fund education, encourage more active citizenship, pursue binding international trade alliances and open borders to all immigrants.” In the words of Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt: “The combination of innovation, empowerment and creativity will be our solution.”
This celebration of human capacity is a welcome antidote to widespread pessimism about the capacity of government to meet current national and global economic, security, demographic and environmental challenges. Put into practice, however, government as investor will mean more than simply funding schools and opening borders. If government is to assume that in the main citizens can solve themselves more efficiently and effectively than government can provide for them, it will have to invest not only in the cultivation of citizen capabilities, but also in the provision of the resources and infrastructure to allow citizens to succeed at scale.
Invest in talent
The most important priority of government as investor is indeed education, but education cradle-to-grave. The first five years are particularly essential, as the brain development in those years determines how well children will be able to learn and process what they learn for the rest of their lives. The government will thus have to invest in an entire infrastructure of child development from pregnancy through the beginning of formal schooling, including child nutrition and health, parenting classes, home visits and developmentally appropriate early education programmes. The teenage years are another period of brain development where special programmes, coaching and family support are likely to be needed. Investment in education will fall on barren ground if brains are not capable of receiving and absorbing it. Moreover, meaningful opportunities for continuing education must be available to citizens over the course of their lives, as jobs change rapidly and the acquisition of knowledge accelerates.
Even well-educated citizens, however, cannot live up to their full potential as creative thinkers and makers unless they have resources to work with. Futurists and business consultants John Hagel III, John Seeley Brown and Lang Davison argue in The Power of Pull that successful enterprises no longer design a product according to abstract specifications and push it out to customers, but rather provide a platform where individuals can find what they need and connect to whom they need to be successful. If government really wishes to invest in citizen talent, it will have to provide the same kind of “product” – platforms where citizens can shop intelligently and efficiently for everything from health insurance to educational opportunities to business licenses and potential business partners. Those platforms cannot simply be massive data dumps; they must be curated, designed and continually updated for a successful customer/citizens experience.
Finally, government as investor will have to find a way to be anti-scale. The normal venture capitalist approach to investment is to expect nine ventures to fail and one to take off and scale up. For government, however, more small initiatives that engage more citizens productively and happily are better than a few large ones. Multiple family restaurants in multiple towns are better than a few large national chains. Woven all together, citizen-enterprise in every conceivable area can create a web of national economic enterprise and at least a good part of a social safety net. But government is likely to have to do the weaving.
A government that believes in the talent and potential of its citizens and devote a large portion of its tax revenues to investing in its citizens to help them reach that potential is an attractive vision. It avoids the slowness and bureaucracy of direct government provision of services, although efficient government units can certainly compete. It recognizes that citizens are quicker and more creative at responding to change and coming up with new solutions.
But government investment will have to recognize and address the changing needs of citizens over their entire lifetimes, provide platforms to help them get the resources and make the connections they need, and see a whole set of public goods created by the sum of their deliberately many parts.
Originally posted on Spotlight Origin: Tin Akachaker or the gem of Tassili, also called the Citadel, a place full of surreal rock formations and dunes found in the Sahara Desert, Hoggar, Ahaggar Mountains, Algeria Image Information TITLE Tin Akachaker AUTHOR Andrea Alborno DATE TAKEN 2009 SOURCE LINK 4Corners | eStock | SIME Spotlight File Name…
Originally posted on Cayden Hebert: Clear fresh water in Chebika Oasis, western Tunisia
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptRead More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
