externalist perspective paper

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Sarah Colegrove

10/30/2012

External Explanation

Africa has faced a plethora of problems – such as corruption, ineffective governments,

extreme poverty, and violence – that has ravaged many countries over the years. What is it that

has caused this poverty, oppression, and underdevelopment to occur? David Leonard and Scott

Straus, in their book Africa’s Stalled Development , take an external stance for the problems that

Africa face. At the heart of their argument is the idea of personal rule, enclave economies, and

that debt and foreign aid can make the situation more complicated.

The personal rule explanation that many scholars have used to describe African

governments is inadequate according to Leonard and Straus. Personal rule has been described as

a system where loyalty to the government or more specifically to officials in the government is

earned through the receiving of goods, services, or positions in society that are given to the

citizens. Personal relationships are very important and corruption is often found because the

personal rule system focuses more on creating and maintaining valuable relationships in society

and government rather than these goods, services, and positions being merit based. It is very

much a “if you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” system. It “is powerful in descriptive terms.

It is less adept at explaining where the dynamics it describes come from and how they are

sustained over the long term.” (Leonard and Straus 2003:1) They go beyond what most look at

personal rule and say that “[It] is thus both cause and effect of Africa’s weak states.” (Leonard

and Straus 2003:7) Personal rule can make a state weak and a weak state can allow leaders to

start instituting personal rule in the government.



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The idea of enclave economies is the core of Leonard and Straus’ work. Enclave

economies are economies that are dependent on a few main products to export to the

international community and do not have a diversified economy. “Africa, then, is particularly

vulnerable to civil conflict because of the continent’s overwhelming economic dependence on

the international sale of primary products.” (Leonard and Straus 2003:64) Africa has a plethora

of natural resources that are very valuable on the international market, such as diamonds or

uranium. These natural resources can assist in the continued weak states and instability in several

African countries. Whatever group is in control of the valuable product has the power in the

country. If the government has control of the resource, sometimes it can lead to situations like

Equatorial Guinea where the president and his family have enormous wealth from the country’s

oil but the people are starving. If dissidents get control of the resource, coups are a very likely

and violence could become very prevalent. Another downside to enclave economies is that the

products these countries export are dependent on the whims of the international market. When

the market is no longer interested in a product or the demand for it lowers, the economy within

the country can crash and the people suffer. The continued threat of instability in the government

along with the country being subject to the whims of the international economy and the

prevalence of violence within the country causes the needs of the people to be mostly overlooked

which in turn enables poverty to thrive and stunts development (Leonard and Straus 2003).

Africa’s poverty, oppression, and underdevelopment are exacerbated through debt, aid,

and technical assistance. The debt that many if not most African countries have has become

insurmountable. These countries are continually given more and more loans by organizations

like the World Bank and the IMF even though many do not have the money to even pay the

interest on the loans they already have. “Both international debt and dependence on unusually



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large levels of foreign aid have severely hampered African development. Together they have

grossly distorted the incentives driving African political and economic elites and have created a

dynamic inimical to development.” (Leonard and Straus 2003:35) As more debt adds up and

more aid is given, governments have less and less of an incentive to improving and developing

their nation. There are also issues with the technical assistance. Throughout the continent many

countries suffer from lack of local civil servants with proper incentives. Donors have provided

for development managers to be brought into these countries at salaries that are competitive in

the international arena but at the same time local development managers are not paid a

comparable salary. Many of the local people do not want the jobs because the salary is very low

or because there are no incentives for them to succeed if they get the job.

What needs to occur in Africa for the continent to overcome these personal rule

governments and enclave economies as well as debt, aid, and technical assistance problems? A

way to combat the power that the many valuable natural resources and products have over the

economy and the country as a whole is to have multilateral treaties with other nations that can

help to ensure that the regime in power will not be removed by a coup and that there sovereignty

will be respected by other nations. These treaties would also encourage countries to have good

governance and provide incentives for the government to move away from enclave economies

and toward more diversity in the economy. Leonard and Straus suggest that for all African

countries, except for those they label as the most corrupt, their debt should be forgiven. This

would allow the countries to be able to develop at a much faster rate as they would not need to

spend all of their resources on paying loans. It would help to stabilize Africa and a stable Africa

can only help to bring about a more stable world. In regards to the issue of technical assistance,

Leonard and Straus say that there are qualified people within some of these civil servant



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positions but they are not producing their best because there no incentives to properly motivate

them. “Once the incentives are set right, Africa has an ample supply of intelligent, talented, and

dedicated men and women who will respond.” (Leonard and Straus 2003:113).

While Leonard and Straus do make a compelling argument, it seems like they are missing

something. I think that George Ayittey’s internal explanation, in Africa in Chaos, combined with

Leonard and Straus’ external explanation enables a much fuller and complete theory. Poor

leadership combined with external factors – such as the West’s continued interference in Africa

and the enclave economies that have emerged – are a much more thorough explanation for the

continued troubles that Africa faces. An important aspect to helping Africa thrive is to remove

the West from Africa. Since at least the times of colonization, the West has had an inordinate

amount of influence and control in Africa. Leonard and Straus do not seem to give a lot of

credence to the idea that Africa, through colonization, has been forced into a western world – a

western way of doing things, a western form of government, and a western way of thinking –

which does not fit the culture of Africa. The African culture was heavily damaged through

colonization and many are caught in crossfire where they are being forced to become

westernized, through such organizations as the World Bank or the IMF, while their traditional

culture is valued but does not fit with West. However, the local traditional culture has worked

well for much of Africa. Leonard and Straus do offer solutions to the poverty, oppression, and

underdevelopment that occur in Africa. However, their argument is somewhat lacking as they

focused solely on an external explanation rather than looking at both internal and external

solutions. The solution to the poverty, oppression, and underdevelopment that Africa faces

should not be in external forces alone but much can be accomplished when focusing on the

internal factors and letting Africa become Africa rather than just another picture of the West.



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Works Cited

Leonard, David K. and Scott Straus. 2003. Africa's Stalled Development: International Causes &

Cures. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishing.

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