Fairness in International Trade

"PROOF Chapter 3 Cultural Values, Economic Growth and Development (S. 27-28)

Symphorien Ntibagirirwa

3.1 Introductory Background

The intention behind this chapter is to raise awareness of the importance of cultural beliefs and values as an important factor, one of the root-sources of economic development that should be taken seriously, particularly in Africa. So far little or no attention has been paid to the cultural factor in Africa’s economic development. Cultural values in Africa have been mostly perceived negatively in economic matters both by African economists, policymakers and planners themselves as well as the consultants of the international institutions and Western donors.

As a consequence, there is a tendency to shift away from them, even from those values such as solidarity and cooperation which, nowadays, are important in today’s economic business. Much attention is concentrated on the claim that appropriate economic policies (mostly neo-liberal policies) necessarily achieve economic growth and development. Accordingly, this chapter consists of six major points. In the first point I will outline the issues that are at stake in the whole reflection.

The second point considers the sense of neo-liberal’s claim and underlines its limits. The third point questions the link between self-interest and economic growth and development by considering the economic experiences of East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. The aim of this point is to suggest that one needs to look beyond the mere concept of self-interest as the basis of economic development. In the fourth section I will review the principle of self-interest against its historico-cultural background in order to show that what led to economic development is not the self-interest per se but rather cultural beliefs and values that produced it.

My main objective is to show the necessary link between cultural values, economic growth and development (fifth section), by paying more attention on the case of Africa (sixth section). In the conclusion I summarize the macro-argument and give the implications of my reflection. PROOF 3.2 The Issues at Stake Four key issues are at stake in this reflection. The first one is the issue of the impact of people’s cultural beliefs and values on economic development. I am aware that certain cultural beliefs and values of a people could enhance or hamper their economic development. In this reflection, and as far as African economic development is concerned, I am much more inclined to place weight on those beliefs and values that would likely enhance economic development.

The second issue is a practical follow up of the first: it is the whole issue of how what people believe and value can be validated in terms of policies of economic development. Nowadays, the concept of participation has become the catchword in developing countries. However, it is not enough for people to “participate” if the model of economic development proposed to them is based on a cultural foundation which is not theirs. Participation in a perspective of economic development which is not rooted in one’s cultural beliefs and values could only be contingent rather than essential. I believe that participation could only be essential if it applies to those economic development projects that are founded on the beliefs and values of the people concerned.

The third issue is the philosophical foundation of economic development. In effect, what people believe and value are based on their being or ontological status. In other words, the beliefs and values people hold are a reflection of their identity, that is, their sense of self. Thus, ultimately, it is from this ontological status that a given people structure its own economic development that cannot easily be transferred to another people whose ontological status is different. What we are as a people determines the way we structure and shape our economic development (economy being, qualitatively, a cultural phenomenon) (see Throsby, 2001: 7ff).

Yet, and this is the fourth issue at stake, the way people view themselves and live in the world can be enhanced or hampered by others with whom they do not share the ontological status, as has been the case with slavery and colonisation or other forms of domination. The problem here is the refusal of the difference based on the fact that a group of people can feel powerful enough to universalise its way of life, thus undermining the whole issue of particularity. How can what certain people claim to be universal be appropriated in another context that has its own particularities (see Gyekye, 1997)? Cultural values matter (cf. Harrison and Huntington, 2000; Sen, 2006, Ch. 6); and my effort will consist in showing how they matter (see Section 3.6)."