Paul Wells résume une conversation qu’il a eu récemment avec Neil Turok de l’Institut périmètre.  M. Turok propose d’envoyer 1000 profs d’Université à 100k$ par année pour les 5 prochaines années en Afrique.  Voici ma réponse dans les commentaires:

Unfortunately, I don’t think it works that way. Social services like Universities or Hospital are more likely a consequence of higher level of development than the other way around. I’m with Anon about the governance issue; the biggest factor holding back Africa right now is probably the lack of credible institutions. Although, I don’t it’s just a matter of « copying » our system of government.

For one thing, these things take time. Our system has evolved over several centuries and we now have integrated it on a cultural level. It’s not the laws or the institutions that are keeping (mostly) corruption free; it’s the largely held belief that they are manage in a fair and transparent way. You can vote all the laws you want, if the population doesn’t think you’re going to enforce them for everyone, it might as well not exist.

Also, I don’t think that western nations are very effective at spreading that system around. For several decades, we’ve essentially been trying to black mail developing country into adopting better systems of governance with international aid, with very little success might I had. The problem is that unless you see good public administration as an end in itself, you’re going to find ways around it. Plus, there’s the rather arrogant presumption that our system of governance is the best and that it can be applied to any culture around the world. I for one, I’m a big believer in spontaneous order; the best system is the system that emerge spontaneously and is accepted by the people on the ground. And when we’re dropping in with our management textbooks, our millions of dollars in aid and our bright ideas, where preventing that order from developing.

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