In her seminal work, Edge of Chaos: Why Democracy is Failing to Deliver Economic Growth – and How to Fix It, Dambisa Moyo provides a very critical explanation for the steady collapse of democracies around the world and how this problem can be addressed for the good of the future generations. In this work, Dr. Moyo’s main thought is that twenty-first century democracies, most notably those in the western world, do not have the capacity to ensure economic prosperity and growth to their populations, unless they undertake drastic reforms. She contends that without fundamentally changing the nature and attributes of modern-day democracies, the politicians it produces will always find hard time comprehending the numerous challenges faced in today’s global economy.
Yet despite this, Dr. Moyo does not advocate for the complete abandonment or withering of democracy. She rather suggests that politicians in democratic dispensations must focus on facilitating growth instead of the obsession with maintaining perfect democracies. The Edge of Chaos is written in eight chapters, where in chapter one, Dr. Moyo espouses the importance of growth, arguing that economic growth must be concerned with meeting the population’s individual basic needs. In chapter two, Dr. Moyo explores the question as to why some countries have managed to grow while others struggle to realize modest wealth despite being endowed with valuable natural resources.
In chapter three, Dr. Moyo discusses the numerous challenges faced by many of the modern-day democracies and the urgency of addressing them before irreversible damage is caused, challenges like; heavy indebtedness, capital misallocation, scarcity/depletion of natural resources, decline in education investment leading to poor labour quality. In chapter four, she criticizes protectionism as a wrong approach to economic policy because it goes against the central tenets of globalization, which according to her, have been the major drivers of global economic growth in the post-war period. In chapter five, Dr. Moyo discusses the challenges presented by the rising radicalization in many recognized liberal constitutional democracies where masses have deliberately chosen to elect radical nationalist and sometimes authoritarian leaders such as Donald Trump in the US, Narendra Mordi in India, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and Boris Johnson in England among others.
In chapter six, Dr. Moyo discusses the problem of short-termism, where most politicians in western democracies focus on short term policies for quick fixes to ensure re-election, without considering the longer term impact that these policies might have on their countries. In chapter seven, Dr. Moyo suggests ten ways through which democratic societies can strengthen themselves in the face of the existing twenty-first century challenges. In her concluding chapter eight, Dr. Moyo summarizes her work by outlining the major challenges and risks faced by the global economy and also exposes the laxity of modern-day leaders in their preparedness to deal with these challenges, and how this ill-preparedness could impact the future generations.
According to Dr. Moyo, the current inter-connectedness of the world today means that what happens anywhere will have an impact on everyone everywhere, whether in the developed or the developing world, whether it’s the increased proliferation of terrorism, economic inequalities, pandemic diseases or mass immigration. She adds that protectionism only serves to fragment and weaken governments, thereby further compromising an already weakened international community. To this point, Dr. Moyo fundamentally argues against isolationism and protectionism, pointing out that contrary to claims by radical nationalist leaders that protectionism is necessary to safeguard their welfare, it in fact negatively impacts welfare.
She gives the example of the trade war between the US and China, arguing that the trade protectionism implemented by the US on Chinese products did not only affect China but the US producers as well, as China also implemented retaliatory policies. She points out that whereas protectionism may be fronted as a populist policy to win votes, its negative impacts include indirect taxes, increased unemployment, decline in productivity and fluctuation in living standards both in the developed and developing countries. Protectionism goes against the post-cold war liberalism which emphasized laissez-fair and deregulated global economy, which at the time were fronted as the solution to the problems faced in the global economy.
The post-cold war era promised democracy as the vehicle for greater freedoms, economic growth and prosperity, which, as Dr. Moyo points out, improves the standards of living because through democratic leadership underpinned by economic growth, governments develop the capacity to fund, deliver and maintain public goods like healthcare, education, infrastructures and national security. She added that democratic societies driven by growth can also easily attract foreign investment and innovative technology, which are essential for prosperity and welfare improvement in the country. Dr. Moyo further observes that despite the benefits of democratization, not all states take the democratic path to growth and prosperity, some merely name themselves ‘liberal democracies’ but when in actual sense they have self-seeking laders who coopt and divert public resources for their own and their cronies’ enrichment.
Dr. Moyo also discusses how poverty relates with democracy in her book, saying that economic growth is a precondition for a true democracy and not viceversa. However, as Dr. Moyo points out, whereas there are more democracies today, most of them are not really democracies in their true traditional sense, instead, they are rather illiberal, where leaders are democratically elected but they maintain their power through undemocratic tendencies such manipulating constitutions to remain in power and citizen repression. The political systems provide the leaders with luxurious lives, condemning the masses to poverty and hopelessness. These parasitic tendencies only promote self-interest and cronyism, which in turn increases poverty and widens the income inequality, leading to a deeper divide between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’.
Dr. Moyo outlines actions must be taken to drive countries towards true democratization and growth: that governments should be run on institutional policy and not individual whim, with legislative supremacy where the elected officials are all bound by the constitution; the political office-bearers should be paid salaries and bonuses which are similar to those paid in the private sector in order to improve the legislative quality; that the electoral term sound be increased to give elected official more time to implement sustained policies rather than focusing on short term gains to secure reelection, and also ensure that there are irrevocable term limits; and that the government must take the responsibility of ensuring that the population is politically sensitized to become responsive and hold the leaders to account.
In conclusion, Dr. Dandila Moyo in “Edge of Chaos: Why Democracy is Failing to Deliver Economic Growth – and How to Fix It,” is somewhat considered radical, and controversial even, in her conviction about the importance of democracy towards economic growth and prosperity of a people. Her criticisms are spot on about the negative effects undemocratic leaderships in economic growth journey of countries, she does not merely stop at being critical. Rather, she suggests many measures which, in her opinion can help keep countries straighten their path towards sustained democratization at the same time promote economic growth for the benefit of all.
References
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