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The same reason Detroit ended up with bad leaders. The average IQ of the populace is comparatively low and thus are easily misled. It's not so difficult really.
The same reason Detroit ended up with bad leaders. The average IQ of the populace is comparatively low and thus are easily misled. It's not so difficult really.
About as uninformed and unfair assessment of a complicated situation as I have ever read. I quoted you only to further embarrass you.
I can offer some anecdotal information. Actually, I think it will ring true in many countries.
The subjugation of Africans by Belgium in the Congo is well documented. Roughly 10 - 15 million Africans disappeared during the 30 year period from 1890 to 1920. It is well documented that slavery was to blame and many, many Africans were simply worked to death or murdered. Read, King Leopold's Ghost. The story is told there, although the facts did not fully come out until 1980, largely because the Africans, who had no written language, did not know it and the Belgians wouldn't tell if they even knew!
OK. In 1960, the Congo won its independence from Belgium. Belgians left; here one day, gone the next.
In 1960 there were less than 100 African men in the Congo with a college degree. Out of 5000 civil service jobs, FIVE of them were held by Africans. There was not one single - not one - black army officer in the Congo army in 1960.
Talk about a country ripe for the taking! What will happen - and did - is that the power vacuum will be filled by the strongest man. And he will use force to do it.
That's how it happened. I do not believe they will ever recover. Or, if they do, it will take another 100 years.
The Congo was definitely a more sinister colonial experience. However the story was much different in Ghana and Nigeria. About half of all the African college graduates for the same time period you cite we're in these two countries. The Brits thought that because there was a relatively deeper well of educated Africans in these two countries that they would be the best candidates for independence first.
Ghana was at the time was wealthier on a per capita basis than S. Korea and Malaysia. It should be noted that unlike say S. Africa a good portion of the wealth was in Black African hands not much white settlement in Ghana. There really was every reason to believe Ghana would be able to maintain and develop post Independence. Unfortunately leaders in Ghana and most of Africa subsequently turned to Marxist ideals. In Ghana buoyed by high cocoa prices Nkrumah taxed cocoa farmers at intolerable rates to fund various dubious government projects. This lead to smuggling through Ivory Coast where untaxed prices could be obtained but soon enough cocoa prices plummeted, foreign reserves were depleted and inflation spiked. A few years later Nkrumah was deposed and 20 years of military coups ensued.
Nigeria had a bloody ethnic civil war and plenty of intrigues that could be a good source for an African version of the Game of Thrones.
About as uninformed and unfair assessment of a complicated situation as I have ever read. I quoted you only to further embarrass you.
There is a reason human biodiversity isn't popular or mainstream. It forces people to acknowledge some uncomfortable realities. That doesn't make them untrue. I'm Black and I don't like that the average IQ of Blacks is low but I've made peace with it.
It's not complicated. The complication comes when folks contort themselves into knots to argue it is not true.
When a country has only a couple of million people, with a very tiny number who can even read and write and has any administrative experience of any kind, you don't exactly have a large talent pool from which to draw the candidates. Added to the fact that in almost every case, a foreign power (not mentioning any names) funded and armed the candidate who could control the military and promise to kiss their ass of the foreign power. And, where the electorate is abjectly poor, they can be swayed by the most whimsical of campaign promises, even where there is a semblance of democracy.
There is a reason human biodiversity isn't popular or mainstream. It forces people to acknowledge some uncomfortable realities. That doesn't make them untrue. I'm Black and I don't like that the average IQ of Blacks is low but I've made peace with it.
It's not complicated. The complication comes when folks contort themselves into knots to argue it is not true.
But don't your comments above about Ghana and parts of Nigeria refute what you said about Africans being too stupid to run a country (paraphrased)? After all, there must be very little difference in IQ between someone born in Ghana and someone born in the Congo.
Doesn't the record point to something a little different than simply low IQ?
But don't your comments above about Ghana and parts of Nigeria refute what you said about Africans being too stupid to run a country (paraphrased)? After all, there must be very little difference in IQ between someone born in Ghana and someone born in the Congo.
Doesn't the record point to something a little different than simply low IQ?
The differences between Ghana, Nigeria & the Congo that I mentioned above have to do more with who their colonizers. Ghana & Nigeria were colonized by Britain and Congo by Belgium. There were clear differences in colonial philosophy between Britain and Belgium. King Leopolds Ghost is a good book to read to get a flavor of the Belgians in humane treatment of the Congolese.
The lower average IQ comes into play post Independence. Also it should be noted that Africa is the most biodiverse place on the planet you'd be incorrect to assume that all cultures in sub-Saharan Africa have similar average IQs.
When a country has only a couple of million people, with a very tiny number who can even read and write and has any administrative experience of any kind, you don't exactly have a large talent pool from which to draw the candidates. Added to the fact that in almost every case, a foreign power (not mentioning any names) funded and armed the candidate who could control the military and promise to kiss their ass of the foreign power. And, where the electorate is abjectly poor, they can be swayed by the most whimsical of campaign promises, even where there is a semblance of democracy.
This is why I'm not in favor of universal suffrage.
What happened in post colonial Africa that caused the continent to end up with so many corrupt governments?
Violent revolution! When power is taken by force the first thing you do is what they did in old Russia- You kill all the smart people and then the stupid criminals that incited the mobs take positions of leadership. Grabbing power through brains is one thing- through bloody force never has good results- You don't kill you best and expect to have good governance...The great leaders that should rule the nations of Africa are dead.
Andrew Mwenda wrote an interesting article on African leaders:
Quote:
Sub-Saharan Africa is a region of about 46 nations. These countries have had many changes of leaders over the last 50 years – in all over 300 presidents have ruled Africa. Basic mathematical probability would tell you that if the personalities of these individual presidents were the main explanation for poor performance, out of these 300 leaders Africa would have had a high chance to produce the hero we have been looking for like a Lee Kuan Yew (Singapore), a Park Chung Hee (South Korea) or a Chiang Kai Shek (Taiwan). Yet even after 14 presidents of Nigeria, 10 of Ghana, eight of Uganda, four of Tanzania and Kenya, five in Zambia etc we have not seen this happen.
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