As we said last time, if a society fails to complete the construction of the country and does not form a national identity, it is more likely to fall into violent conflict. So, what is the priority of these countries? It is not about economic construction, but to establish an effective political community first.
The establishment of an effective political community is actually mainly two tasks: first is to complete the visible state construction in organization; second is to shape the less visible national identity in concept.
However, if a country can achieve these two points, will it not worry about it? In fact, this is far from enough. After the national problem has been basically resolved, development has become an urgent task.
"Mobutu Trap" in developing countries
From the data point of view, many backward countries will fall into the trap of stagnation or non-development. For example, take the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country in central Africa, which has been independent for more than half a century, but its per capita GDP is still less than US$500. Such a country is at a standstill.
So, why is it stagnating? There is a view that this is related to Mobutu, the political strongman who has ruled the country for more than 30 years in the past. I invented a term to call this stagnant state of non-development the "Mobutu Trap".
When Mobutu was born in 1930, the Democratic Republic of the Congo was a colony of Belgium. The Democratic Republic of Congo, also known as Congo (Kinshasa), this "golden" means that its capital is Kinshasa.
Mobutu had a poor family when he was a child. His mother was a hotel waitress, and his father was a personal chef for a Belgian judge. But it was precisely because of this relationship that the kindly judge's wife became Mobutu's French teacher. Therefore, Mobutu has been proficient in French since he was a child.
In 1949, Mobutu joined the Congolese army to which Belgium belongs, served for 7 years and was promoted to sergeant chief. Due to his political ambitions and writing skills, Mobutu switched to working as a journalist in 1956, and received professional journalism training in Belgium. It was during this process that he met Lumumba, the leader of the Congolese National Liberation Movement, and thus had the opportunity to enter the core of power in the future.
In 1960, the Democratic Republic of the Congo became independent, and Mobutu, who was only 30 years old, was appointed as the chief of staff of the National Army, giving him the opportunity to control the army.
Soon, the country fell into a political crisis due to the internal struggle between the president and the prime minister. Mobutu launched the first coup, and in 1965 launched the second coup, from then on the military and political power. After that, he was forced to go into exile in 1997, and he ruled the Congo (DRC) for more than 30 years.
However, this is such a figure who was later regarded by the international community as Africa's most notorious dictator. Why did he get such notoriety? We cannot discuss the details of his rule in the Congo (Kinshasa). Generally speaking, Mobutu's rule has three characteristics: The first characteristic of
is to rely on nepotism to rule.
Mobutu not only owns power, but also promotes relatives and people of his ethnic group to important positions. This approach does not seem to conform to the principles of modern bureaucracy. But in Mobutu's view, this prevents power from falling into the hands of people who threaten him. The second feature of
is the frantically squeezing the ruling rent. The high-level network based on nepotism established by
Mobutu is still a mechanism for sharing the spoils. He himself was the most corrupt and extravagant political leader in Africa at that time. He owns a huge Mercedes-Benz fleet and owns many luxurious top manors. He also often chartered Air France passenger planes for the purpose of going to Paris for a purchase.
International media estimates that Mobutu has squeezed at least US$5 billion in personal wealth in the Congo (DRC). Other high-ranking officials and local princes are Mobutu, big and small. The third characteristic of
is that the country has been trapped in total poverty and stagnation for a long time.
Under Mobutu's rule, Congo (DRC) became one of the poorest countries in the world. Congo (Kinshasa) did not even have a decent road for a time. Inflation has soared, the economy has stagnated, people's lives are miserable, and many people even died of hunger. For the people there, life is an infiniteThe suffering.
Of course, there is far more than one country falling into the "Mobutu trap". Zimbabwe is another example. The country is most famous for its huge inflation in the past few years. You may have heard that the country once issued 100 billion banknotes. The result of
's doing so is of course economic chaos, and the middle class and ordinary people have been looted. The direct cause of this situation in Zimbabwe is another Mobutu-like African strongman Robert Mugabe.
To sum up briefly, the direct manifestation of the "Mobutu Trap" of is that the ruling group is keen to squeeze the ruling rent, while the entire country has fallen into long-term poverty, stagnation and suffering.
Why is it difficult to escape the "Mobutu Trap"?
Hearing this, you may be thinking, why do countries like Congo (DRC) and Zimbabwe fall into the "Mobutu trap"? And why don’t countries like South Korea and Singapore fall into the "Mobutu Trap"?
On the surface, the "Mobutu Trap" was caused by a bad ruler like Mobutu. So, is a country falling into the "Mobutu trap" mainly because the rulers of these countries are particularly bad?
Actually, this problem is more complicated than you think. Mobutu, a Congolese (DRC), was originally a journalist, proficient in French, well-educated in Europe, and took huge political risks to participate in the national liberation movement. He once had the dream of building an independent and prosperous African country.
Mugabe of Zimbabwe was one of the very few blacks who received university education at the time. His first job was a school teacher. Later, he became the main activist of the Zimbabwe National Liberation Movement because of his concern for the fate of the country. year. According to today's standards, Mugabe not only had political ideals, but even had the opportunity to compete for the Nobel Peace Prize.
However, once the colonists are driven away and they become rulers themselves, why do they seem to have lost all their excellent political qualities? On the contrary, a ruling model of bad politics began to emerge. Why is this?
To put it simply, any human group at must first solve the problem of governance. The most backward African societies of are no exception. Then, after the European colonists left, how did these African societies rule?
For the most backward countries, the most natural rule is actually personal rule. But a person cannot rule the country by his own strength. Therefore, he needs not only political allies and supporters, but also a complete bureaucratic system.
The problem is that after the withdrawal of European colonial officials, it was difficult for African society to develop a set of bureaucratic systems in the European sense that conformed to the principle of rationalization. The reason is that a very backward African society lacks both economic resources and human resources, as well as legal tradition and rule awareness.
Let's be more specific. For example, the construction of bureaucracy often requires a team of civilian officials. But where did the civilian ranks come from? In European history, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II founded the University of Naples as early as 1224. It was the first university entirely run by the government in Europe. The purpose of this emperor is not to study academics, but to train his own bureaucracy. Without this condition, it would be difficult for the emperor to develop a bureaucratic system that could replace the rule of feudal lords.
In fact, the imperial examination system that emerged during the Sui and Tang dynasties of ancient China was aimed at the centralized state trying to weaken the influence of the noble families and establish a bureaucratic system that conformed to its own principles.
However, the Congo (DRC) and many countries in Africa at that time did not have such social conditions. So, what remains is that rulers need to seek political allies and supporters based on personal relationships. In exchange for , he needs to provide these political supporters with informal power and benefits. This ruling structure of
is like the “tax-inclusive model” before the rise of the modern French tax system. The king needed tax packagers to solve his government revenue problem, so he had to let these tax packagers do mischief in their own turf, do their own way, and squander their own pockets.
Therefore, the basis of Mobutu’s ruling model lies in the extreme backwardness of society., The state system is underdeveloped. To manage the country with the aid of the "rule-spoil-sharing model" has become a choice of these rulers.
Of course, the result of this mode of governance is that the country has fallen into the Mobutu trap. Even today, how to prevent falling into the "Mobutu Trap" is still a major challenge faced by many backward countries.
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is good. The topic of this lecture is why some developing countries are prone to fall into the "Mobutu trap".
The important revelation of this lecture: the key reason for the "Mobutu Trap" is not the quality of a single ruler, but the social conditions that shape this mode of governance. Z5z is neither a ruler who wants to achieve this kind of rule, nor does it mean that the replacement of a single ruler can immediately end this backward rule.
Once caught in the "Mobutu Trap", a backward country is unlikely to quickly become a country with clear politics and effective governance through a simple political transformation. This is like a long-term patient who cannot become a marathon runner by taking a panacea.
Therefore, the improvement of politics is often a complicated system engineering. Generally speaking, national construction, economic development, bureaucratic development, and the reconstruction of the elite are all part of this systematic project.
Extended reading
So far, I would like to recommend a political science masterpiece, political scientist Samuel Huntington's "Political Order in Changing Society" published in 1968. Although this book has been published for half a century, it happens to help us understand the politics of developing regions in the 1950s and 1960s. You are welcome to share your reading experience in the message area.
The subject of our lecture is the stagnant developing countries. So, are there any developing countries that have achieved rapid economic growth and created economic miracles? Of course there is. In the next lecture, I will discuss this issue with you. ——Bao Gangsheng, "Thirty Lectures on General Studies in Political Science"
