Why Some Countries Fail?
By Amir Zia April 21, 2013
The book takes the reader on a fast-paced and action-packed tour of conflict-ridden countries and is a treasure trove for scholars and students
Title: Saints and Sinners
Author: Ali Mahmood
Publisher: HarperCollins India
Pages: 448
Price: INR 599
Want to read an array of tales of mega corruption or the most horrible atrocities committed around the world in recent times — then ‘Saints & Sinners’ is the book for you. The book attempts to explain one of the biggest and oldest questions of the statecraft — “why some countries grow rich, and the others don’t?”
Ali Mahmood, a Dubai-based author, a leading Pakistani businessman, who dabbled in politics as a senator of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s PPP, takes the reader on a fast-paced and action-packed tour of conflict-ridden countries of Africa, Middle East, South Asia, Far East and Eastern Europe in his search for an answer to the question why some countries fail.
In most countries, the conflicts were home-grown and stemmed from their ruling elite’s inability to resolve their internal contradictions. At others, the global powers, including the United States, played a leading role in igniting and intensifying such conflicts, but in rare instances also attempted to resolve them.
Mahmood got a firsthand glimpse of oppressive state machinery during the days of Zia-ul Haq, when he was sentenced to 14-year jail term. This forced him into an exile for the same number of years in the calm water of the United Kingdom, where he managed to get political asylum.
His interest in politics and political questions did not wane with time. And the fruit of his musings and research is this highly readable work in which he builds the premise that “conflict and corruption” remain the “most deadly traps” for the developing countries. Mahmood’s effort reminds one of a momentous work done by two leading US-based academics, Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson under the title — Why Nations Fail. The two authors too tried to find answer to the mother of all questions that why there remain such huge differences in incomes and standards of living that separate the rich countries of the world, such as the United States, Great Britain and Germany, from the poor such as those in sub-Saharan Africa, Central America and South Asia. While Mahmood’s work appears more of a journalistic reportage, the US authors’ book is more academic, analytical and scientifically researched.
Here, a comparative study of the two books is not the aim, but the similarity of question, raised by these works, is indeed significant to underline.
Mahmood raises thought-provoking questions on whether democracy helps or hinders development and admits that, “some of the most successful states across the world have not been democratic.”
Along with corruption and conflict, Mahmood sees that relations with the world’s sole superpower — the United States — also remain vital in deciding fortunes of a state in our times. “The US can make you or break you, not just by war but also because of its overwhelming economic power,” the author argues in his preface.
The first section of the book deals with conflict — taking readers into the horrors of civil war, mass slaughters, rape, devastation and plunder in places like Angola, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Eretria, Israel and Palestine and Iraq and Iran. The stories of conflicts in Yugoslavia and Russia are no less chilling.
The second section of the book focuses on corruption and describes how it “effects and obstructs development.” In the words of the author, “economic activity is slowed down, efficiency falls, the rule of law is weakened as the courts fails to deliver justice, while the police prey on the populace.”
The author has managed to highlight both these challenges in a well-argued manner, giving some solid background and useful information from his exhaustive research from various sources. Although one can draw many lessons and parallels from this book regarding the multiple challenges faced by Pakistan, the book is not Pakistan-focused. It has a broad canvas and tries to understand factors that why some nations plunge into chaos, anarchy, civil wars and economic meltdowns, while others prosper. According to the author, only Israel emerges as a state, which benefited even from the conflict — but then it has the unwavering support of the United States, which plays an important part in strengthening and stabilising this small country locked in a hostile neighbourhood.
The book is a treasure trove for scholars and general readers who want to know about the major conflicts of recent times, their background, the factors driving them and even the lead personalities who remained responsible for them. Each conflict is packaged in small, highly readable doses of few pages, giving their gist. One meets larger than life characters — or should we say villains — responsible for the plight and killings of tens of thousands of people. It is a whirlwind, but highly informative tour of Egypt and Algeria where hardened Islamists are seen locked with corrupt and insensitive secular establishments.
In Liberia and Sierra Leone one meets the “lords of war” who dehumanised the entire populations, committing atrocities, which can appear too gruesome for the faint heart. In Angola, if there is a politics of oil versus diamonds, the reader would also find the tales of horror from the long war of Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Yugoslav war — described as Europe’s own horror story — happened not too long ago to fade from our collective memory. And of course, Pakistan and India also feature as the main players of the nuclear conflict zone of South Asia.
Pakistan own tales of corruption and sleaze would appear small time affairs when one reads the magnitude of corruption in capitalist Russia and the exploitation of Iraq both by Saddam Husein and its successors — the mighty US corporate interests.
The other section of the book focuses on issues of democracy – including Islamic democracy, superpowers’ role and some success stories including from Singapore, China, Dubai, Israel and Malaysia.
Pakistan again features in the second last chapter under the title — “failed or failing.”
The conclusion focuses on the quality of leaders, who in the words of author make the ultimate difference. One can argue against this rather simplistic premise, but Mahmood’s Saints and Sinners remains a story of greed, corruption and conflict which is well told.
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