POLITICS: The Reason Behind A Nations Failure
A Review of Why Nations Fail by Angelika May Magtibay
Arguments as to why nations fail arise have already been rampant and shown to
several books already explaining and claiming their reasons to this uncertainty. It was
Jared Diamonds 1997 book Guns, Germs and Steel where it was posed and asked
why other countries are rich while some are poor and was asserted that it is not
geography. Others have claimed that it is culture, but it is not either. But after the
release of Acemoglu and Robinsons Why Nations Fail in 2012, its main contention is
that politics is the main reason over a nations successes and failures as well.
This personal review of the book Why Nations Fail: the Origins of Power,
Prosperity and Poverty by James Robinson and Daron Acemoglu is presented in this
paper into three portions: First is a brief review on the book itself rationalizing the claims
of the authors and how and why do these claims paved its way to be such a globally
accepted theory in the field of politics and international economics. Second, is a brief
review on Chapter 2 of this book entitled Theories That Dont Work explicating the role
of institutions in advancing success and eradicating failures in nations. Third and last
part contains the reflections and conclusions in relation to the contentions presented in
the book.
The main question that this book aimed to answer is that how come some
countries prospered and created great living conditions for the people, while others
failed to do so? The authors have focused into their premise that a nations prosperity
depends on the institutions within it, however the dilemma with some nations
malfunction to be able to succeed is that majority of the institutions present in the status
quo are only designed by few people, most of the time are the elite and the powerful
who digs out the resources of the majority which makes a society to stop developing.
With this claim, it was explained that this type of system cannot build up innovation nor
investment. In order for a nation to thrive, citizens need innovation to be able to utilize
resources to its greatest extent and could lead to nations failure.
POLITICS: The Reason Behind A Nations Failure
A Review of Why Nations Fail by Angelika May Magtibay
The authors have claimed that the only factor which can explain why some
countries are poor while some are rich is because of the institutional infrastructure
which has been established in the present political era. It was also claimed that
inclusive economic institutions are behind the wealth of developed countries. It was
given emphasis that institutions have the greatest role for the economies to prosper.
Prosperity does not depend on either culture or geography or a leaders expert
experiences but relies mainly with institutions alone through the collective efforts of
government and institutions themselves to promote prosperity. It was highlighted that
politics is the main problem of nations failure and this assertion challenges nations to
create political institutions that will bring them to an emergence of success.
The second chapter of the book exposed and mentioned three theories that
claimed to lead to prosperity but actually didnt work. This chapter explained that poor
countries are poor not because of their geographies or cultures, or because their
leaders do not know which policies will enrich their citizens.
First of these three is the Geography Hypothesis Theory which claims that the
division and classification between rich and poor countries was the effect of
geographical differences. According to Acemoglu and Robinson the difference between
countries is not determined by geographical factors such as climates and terrain but by
institutional factors. Along with this is their claim that there was also no evidence prove
that prosperity can be created by these geographical factors too. World equality,
however, cannot be explained by climate or diseases, or any version of the geography
hypothesis. (Acemoglu & Robinson, 2012) It is not true and has not been recorded that
tropical countries are poorer than those who are in the temperate zones. As to Africas
case that it has been recorded as one of the worlds poorest countries, people die of
hunger and diseases and people think that diseases make the country poor but the
reality is that it is the governments inability to be able to come up with action in order to
eradicate the problem. The second theory being opposed to is the Culture Hypothesis
that tries to explain that inequality is based on beliefs, values, ethics and norms. This
POLITICS: The Reason Behind A Nations Failure
A Review of Why Nations Fail by Angelika May Magtibay
theory is present to countries which developments and actions are determined by
religion and nationalism. The authors disagree to this opinion that culture makes a
nation come to success or failure. Best example to this is the difference between two
Korean territories, North and South. South Korea is richer that North Korea, they have
preserved their norms while the latter did not, people are given chance to pick their
religion freely in South while in North they do not allow people to have any religion. The
point is that even if North Korea is not following and preserving set of norms, it is still a
developed country. However, these differences with cultures and norms are still not
enough evidence that it is the reason of the developments of these countries because
they share the same before they have been split. The last theory that was contested is
the Ignorance Hypothesis theory that explains that it is the leader who makes a country
either poor or prosperous. This may be true because with the capabilities of a leader to
promote the good, then the country can prosper but come to think that even in the
presence of the most brilliants leaders, a country can still fail to be successful.
This book has insisted the differences between inclusive and extractive view on
the economic and political institutions yet failed to present a concrete step with how a
country can move to be able to promote prosperity through inclusive institutions. The
authors have presented a vague analysis on the three theories they dissented but never
explained how their answer to the question could actually respond to the problem in
particular. The terms inclusive and extractive institutions were used numerous times but
was never elaborated. While they argue on the validity of the three theories, they failed
to give an example of a theory that would support their claims. The neoliberalist
contention should have been taken into consideration since the state is the foundation
and the key actor in development and the absence of state could result to chaos and
war, to the fact that they have been insisting that it is politics that determines a nations
prosperity or failure. While this book seem to disappoint me based on their claims on
Chapter 2, they have suggested a kind of political infrastructure that makes the voices
of the majority be heard and that growth shall be inclusive so that benefits could be
distributed to everyone and to be able elevate equality.
POLITICS: The Reason Behind A Nations Failure
A Review of Why Nations Fail by Angelika May Magtibay
