Collier in Melanesia: A discussion of Paul Collier's 'The bottom billion: Why the poorest countries are failing and what can be done about it'
Date
2008
Authors
Nelson, Hank
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Canberra, ACT: Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University
Abstract
Former director of development research at the World Bank and now Professor of
Economics and Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies at Oxford
University, Paul Collier has written a broad and brave book on why one sixth of the
world’s population suffer long-term poverty and poor government, what can be done
about it, and why it is in the interests of all nations to do something.1
Collier’s aim it to
identify the ‘traps’ that ensnare and hold poor nations and the policies that are most likely
to lead to their escape. His immediate concern is not with the millions of poor within rich
and middle-level nations – the problems of opportunity and distribution. He is defining
questions and presenting answers at the broadest level on other major issues of our time:
how do citizens in the failed and faltering states begin to turn them into efficient and fair
nation-states, and how do those in developed nations, multi-national organizations and
non-government agencies transfer material and non-material aid to under-developed
nations so that it has a measurable, beneficial effect. The quotes from the relevant and
eminent on the back cover of The Bottom Billions make high claims: ‘The best nonfiction
book so far this year’ (Nicholas Kristof), ‘Path-breaking’ (George Soros), and ‘Should be
compulsory reading’ (The Economist). Given the topic, the recommendations, and its
immediate relevance to international aid policy and practice, this is a book worth close
examination.
In a study that draws its evidence from across the globe and offers analysis and
answers for all donor nations, multinational agencies and recipients, it is inevitable that
readers will check for accuracy against those bits of the globe familiar to them. So what
does Collier say about Australia and the region?
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