whythawk ratings: measuring effective development

1.
(Comments)

...we was one of the wealthiest nations in Africa. Did they get poor because of rich Americans or government corruption and failed economic policies? Rich people have no interest in poor people. Ric...

2.
(Comments)

Power corrupts, and governments in absolute power start forgetting that they\'re employs and start thinking they\'re the parents of particularly stupid children.

3.
(Comments)

...a result of the ANC swallowing van Schalkwyk & Co, or it is just another incidence of all power tending to corrupt?...

4.
(Comments)

...who fail to distribute textbooks as well. Having the success of the enterprise revolve around the often corrupt and failed governments is a real Achilles heal. However, I do believe that the u...

5. Dealing with the consequences of Zimbabwe
(Analysis/Analysis)

...the region's only economic muscle. In the mean time though, we all have to wait out the shameful and corrupt backroom horse-trading going on that will hopefully ease Comrade Bob out of office be...

6. Taxing the Future, Confusing the Present
(Analysis/Analysis)

...iticians who are willing to grant them more. The majority are even willing to tolerate the high levels of corruption prominently and proudly on display in the new ANC hierarchy. Taxpayers, on the o...

7. Electricity Redux - Electricity Quotas Will Work About As Well As Race Quotas
(Analysis/Analysis)

...didn't get quotas, had to stop manufacturing and retrench employees. Quotas lead to opportunities for corruption as insiders trade contacts and cash for larger allocations. Money supply and loan...

8. Of Chiefs and Presidents
(Analysis/Analysis)

... were removed from the constitution. Bongo was accused of wanting to become life president. Accusations of corruption have long been levelled against Bongo. Also in 2003, Bongo was implicated in the t...

9. Simba the Saviour?
(Analysis/Analysis)

...ed among many sectors of the country. He is widely considered to be the only man in the ruling party to be corruption-free; a major achievement, if true. "Simba" in Zimbabwe is a Shona wo...

10. Ending poverty means abandoning charity and accepting reality
(Analysis/Analysis)

...sts of its people should be doing its best to set up a fair and equitable legal and economic framework. If corrupt politicians are rewarded and kept in office then no amount of incentives is going to ...

11. Atlas Shrugged at 50
(Analysis/Analysis)

...han by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you - when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - you may know that your soci...

12. Department of inJustice: the corruption of high office
(Analysis/Analysis)

Corruption is a result of poor disclosure and weak systems and institutions. The bankruptcy process in South Africa is from the Victorian era and tends to place a terrifying burden on all involved. Th

13. Science gone wrong: when self-delusion leads to death
(Analysis/Analysis)

... Ever increasing efficiency speeds up processes and lowers prices. Certainly, there are executives who are corrupt, just as there are corrupt politicians and corrupt lawyers and corrupt human rights a...

14. Everything is coming up Capitalism
(Analysis/Analysis)

...ship, though: a low distribution of power with a wide distribution of wealth does run the risk of fuelling corruption; while a concentration of wealth with a wide distribution of power can lead to sim...

15. Nigeria, or the idiots guide to stealing an election
(Analysis/Analysis)

...nancial and Economic Crimes Commission declared that they would publish a list of public figures guilty of corruption. Many of the most attractive candidates found themselves listed. This went to co...

16. The future of newspapers II: of shock-jocks and self-made media-stars
(Analysis/Analysis)

...of being first to cover a news story; of offering the critical insight that unlocks events and brings down corrupt elites. Competition between journalists and media companies has been the stuff of co...

17. Jacob's ANC Ladder: the power of the state, the power of the party
(Analysis/Analysis)

... has announced his candidacy for the presidency. Zuma is the ex-deputy president fired for connections to corruption in a multi-million Rand arms deal.  It gets worse: his financial advisor is a...

18. Cricket, corruption and the match-fixing that leads to murder
(Analysis/Analysis)

...ortant than having a good national cricket side. Where businesses are treated in similar fashion, similar corruption, misrule and incompetence prevails.  There is one electricity provider in Sou...

19. Racial arguments muddy human rights and the ending of poverty
(Analysis/Analysis)

...ast should not be used as an ongoing excuse to perpetuate continuing injustice.  That way lies future corruption, autocracy and dictatorship.  We have seen this before.  Colonial rule i...

20. The Last King, the Centralised State, and Democracy
(Analysis/Analysis)

Echoing the cry of every volunteer who has ever run away to some disabled and corrupt country, Dr Nicholas Garrigan rages at a British diplomat, “You guys come here and don’t recognise tha

21. The best bridge out of poverty is over the future of cash
(Analysis/Analysis)

...h; imposed from the outside – come laws and regulations that benefit South Africans.  Fraud and corruption at the highest levels are often blamed for the perpetuation of poverty and it is u...

22. "On your left is an Orc fighting a Troll" - travels in hyper-reality offer lessons for the poor
(Analysis/Analysis)

...e circumstances there favour poverty.  Either through government policies that prevent investment, or corruption and legal practice that terrorises business owners, or even that people choose it....

23. The 'War Against Corruption' starts with ending the 'Culture of Entitlement'
(Analysis/Analysis)

“Everybody knows that any war on poverty would start with a successful war on corruption. The grotesque disparity between the rich and poor is maintained and exacerbated by uncontrolled greed at

24. We're from Mars and we want to help: four lessons in development
(Analysis/Analysis)

...nts that act to counterbalance the power of the state (from newspapers, to NGOs, to independent judiciary, corruption investigators, and police). Everything else must be bought and sold otherwise the...

25. South Africa and China, or why democracy isn't connected to economic growth
(Analysis/Analysis)

...t the World Economic Forum in Davos indicates that 63% of South Africans regard their political leaders as corrupt.  Yet the ANC has a 70% parliamentary majority. This is not to declare our demo...

26. The Martians Really Care: four points to govern development
(Analysis/Ideas and Challenges)

...rd, but they are backward.  We reached this stage of development a thousand years ago.  They are corrupt, their systems of governance are expensive and patronising, their infrastructure is n...

27. The poor have never had it so good ... now what?
(Analysis/Analysis)

...at you’re given.  Soviet states ran very well; if you didn’t mind poverty, shortages, and corruption. All of these new charitable foundations, started by entrepreneurs, rely on third...

28. The carnage on South Africa's roads
(Analysis/Analysis)

...by police arriving to take their chief to safety and ensure that no-one testifies against him. As in major corruption cases, if those at the top are held to significantly lower standards than the rest...

29. Ithala and The Corruption Of Development
(Analysis/Analysis)

...nemployment then the answer must surely be finance.  This short-sighted approach can sew the seeds of corruption. Where there is a great deal of trade, finance moves in to fund new business idea...

30. Responsibility Reputation Risk - a conference on corporate social investment
(Events/Events)

...nbsp; Winfrey donated $1.14-million to Ithuteng. These cases are certainly exceptions, however, even if no corruption exists there is little to suggest that development organisations are not squanderi...

31. Senescence, the death of development
(Analysis/Analysis)

...“My word, but they are backward. We reached this stage of development a thousand years ago. They are corrupt, their systems of governance are expensive and patronising, their infrastructure is n...

32. Interpreting the Emerging Market Risk Curve
(Static Content)

...nal assessments of market risk usually produce country rankings based on such things as Human Development, Corruption, or Ease of Doing Business. These are worthy concerns but are somewhat one-dimensi...