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Some of those international observers and commentators who were around in the sixties and seventies of the century past are likely to have been filled with a sense of nostalgia on reading about the G77+China summit which is currently on in Bolivia. There is a degree of vibrancy in this coming together of the leaders of the developing world, which brings back positive memories of the heyday of the G77 and the Non-Aligned Movement, which were very much up and about in the middle of the 20th century.
It was heartening to note the enthusiasm with which the Bolivian meet revived some of the issues facing the developing world which were at the heart of the activities of NAM and G77, for instance, in those times, which, unfortunately, have suffered benign neglect at the hands of the developing world itself over the years. For example, there is the issue of poverty and its alleviation, which has been brought into focus at the Bolivian summit, which, one would have got the impression, had become a non-issue for the developing countries over the past 30 or 40 years.
The reason for such down playing of poverty is not hard to figure out. Since the mid-seventies the developing world has come to believe that the ‘open economy’ or ‘market liberalization’ holds a key to the resolution of the economic discontents of the world. It has come to be believed that the ‘market’ and all that it mainly implies, would look after the material needs of people everywhere.
There is no denying that economic liberalization is one among several factors which help in ushering a degree of economic advancement in particularly the developing world but countries could ill afford to overlook the need for redistributive justice or income redistribution among their masses as a vital means of ensuring the people’s material well being. The degree to which redistributive justice has been allowed to be overlooked by governments of both the North and South is borne out by the relative urgency with which the issue of economic justice is now being addressed by some important sections. That is, the income gap between the rich and the poor the world over is widening alarmingly and it is rightly felt that the world community should act to remedy this situation without delay.
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While the Sri Lankan authorities would have us believe that poverty has been drastically reduced in this country, India, for instance, does not shy away from the fact that poverty remains one of its chief worries. Welfare measures launched by India, such as, programmes aimed at providing paid work for the poor testify to the urgency with which the poverty issue is being addressed by that country.
But there is no denying that the yawning gap between the rich and the poor in Asian countries is a major crisis in the making. Stephen Groff, vice-president, operations, of the ADB was recently quoted saying as follows about Asian poverty in general: ‘The change in the last three decades has been dramatic, more dramatic than any other region. Despite tremendous progress that has been made in poverty reduction in the region, it remains the home to most of the world’s poor.’
Accordingly, progressive, pro-poor opinion in the developing world could be glad that poverty, among other troubling questions, is being taken up in a major way by forums, such as, G77+China, which have been historically associated with Third World developmental issues. Hopefully, Bolivian President Evo Morales’ words that, ‘This summit is not purely commemorative, it will propose new social policies’, would prove the cue for collective action by the developing world to bridge the rich-poor gap and reduce global poverty.
However, the issues of the sixties and seventies are not entirely those of the present times. It is all too evident that besides economic justice, ethnicity and ‘nation-breaking’ are confronting the developing countries in a major way. Syria and Iraq are just two cases in point. Sectarian violence has gripped these countries in so destructive a fashion today that economic issues could be said to be eclipsed virtually by questions in nation-making.
It is clear that development, as it was traditionally conceived, would prove insufficient in the face of the explosive emergence of ethnicity and identity politics in the developing world. If ‘nation’ is confronting ‘nation’ militaristically in this region today, it is because inclusive development has been given a miss by many of the Third World’s ruling and political elites.
Now more than ever before, development needs to be inclusive. That is, not only must the poor be ensured empowerment and economic independence, such material advancement must cut across ethnic, religious, language and other perceived barriers within countries. At one time it was widely perceived that growth would ‘trickle down’ to the people from the owners of the factors of production, but the income gap within countries testifies that this does not necessarily happens. This is one way in which development has been conceived but the proliferation of identity conflicts in the developing world in particular is proof that state intervention is necessary to ensure that the fruits of growth are enjoyed by all sections of a country’s populace. That is, inclusive development must be aimed at by states.
The ushering of such inclusivity is central to nation-building by states. Communities within countries begin to see themselves as separate nations when they are not made party to the development process; that is, when development is not inclusive and eludes them, leaving them poor and disempowered. Accordingly, inclusive development must be addressed by the developing world and practised. This is the challenge before fora, such as, the G77+China.
It must be noted that identity conflicts are currently least heard of in Latin America. But a crop of such conflicts is raging in the Middle East and other parts of Asia. It is no accident that some important international actors are beginning to call on the Iraqi state to make special efforts to weld its divided communities into an inclusive whole. That is, nation-making is being seen as crucial. This call is applicable to all those countries which are being torn asunder by ethnic and religious conflicts.
