“ Anti-corruption, accountability and governance constitute the basic building blocks to development, according to the conventional wisdom. Yet, two countries that have made the greatest strides in poverty reduction can hardly be held up as models of good governance. In both cases, the governments are highly authoritarian – one-party rule – and accountability is limited. The two countries that have won plenty of plaudits from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank for lifting millions out of poverty are China and Vietnam. China lifted more than 600 million people out of poverty between 1981 and 2004. Vietnam has lifted about 35 million people out of poverty, its poverty rate has plummeted from 58% in 1993 to 14% in 2008 and it is well on its way to achieving middle-income status (defined by the World Bank as countries with a per capita income of $1,000). China’s success is even more stupendous. Using the poverty standard of a person living on $1.25 a day, the incidence of poverty in China declined from 85% in 1981 to 27% in 2004.
Poverty Matters (blog on The Guardian), Mark Tran: The uncomfortable reality of development [June 29, 2011]
And we all know that corruption, poor accountability, and poor governance are each mutually exclusive with democracy.
(via silverbowl)
