Week 7 -- Jaselle Abuda

Jaselle Abuda

Professor Valverde

ASA 189 F

4 November 2017

            To ensure the development of a country, in most cases, the government must sacrifice “good economics, bad politics” for the sake of developmental change. As for the case of Botswana, mineral extraction has become one of the biggest contributors to the expansion of economic prosperity to the country after their independence. However, with this approach of exporting natural resources to develop a country, there comes many fallbacks to meet the fullest potential of a country. As Michael Lewin explains, “with easily accessible wealth concentrated in the hands of the government, malignant dictatorships and predatory regimes often thrive” (82). The government has most, if not all, the authority for its natural resources and with so much authority to use its resources comes with corruption and greed. An uneven distribution of wealth and power then fuels and perpetuates the corruption throughout the country. Transparency between the governance and its people become very jaded to the point to where the question of a country’s wealth and economic prosperity becomes a burden.

            Another great example of how the extraction of natural resources has corrupted and sabotaged a country’s development is the country of the Philippines. As richly abundant of the country of the Philippines’ natural resources, the unregulated restrictions of domestic issues concerning corruption and militias has been growing worse throughout the decades. As Jose states, “A major contributing factor to this state of affairs is an unregulated economy that is highly dependent on the extraction and export of natural resources”. The ongoing domestic issues has affected the country’s economic, political, and national branding as a whole. From years of colonialization from Spain and the U.S., the Philippines continues to seek independence from their predecessors and even in themselves.

Picture Source: https://pulitzercenter.org/projects/philippines-natural-resources-extraction-armed-conflict-people-power-revolution-ferdinand-marcos

Question: Are there any effective and efficient governmental policies that focuses on helping and retaining a country’s economic wealth while holistically benefiting the people?

Citations

Jose, C. (2011). The Philippines: Surviving on Disappearing Natural Resources. [online] Pulitzer Center. Available at: https://pulitzercenter.org/projects/philippines-natural-resources-extraction-armed-conflict-people-power-revolution-ferdinand-marcos [Accessed 4 Nov. 2017].