Monday, May 31, 2004
Sebastian Mallaby of the Washington Post writes of a valuable, half-implemented program responsible for economic growth in Africa, which the U.S. Senate is likely to axe.
A growing chorus of experts, African and American, has told the world that the continent needs increased access to Western markets, not aid packages. We seem to be trying not to hear. Domestic industries and interest groups are just too powerful and tend to drown out weak foreign voices.
But free trade is more than an abstract good. Employing poor people in Africa and investing countries in exports to the United States allows economic development and, with it, the development of political institutions. Terrorism may not stem from poverty, but terrorists love to work in poor countries - poor or collapsed societies provide an excellent viral media for them. Denying these poor countries hard-sought income will increase the likelihood that they will remain unable to deal effectively with terrorism. The fact that both political parties have flirted with such protectionism and the absence of support for trade with Africa is disquieting.
A growing chorus of experts, African and American, has told the world that the continent needs increased access to Western markets, not aid packages. We seem to be trying not to hear. Domestic industries and interest groups are just too powerful and tend to drown out weak foreign voices.
But free trade is more than an abstract good. Employing poor people in Africa and investing countries in exports to the United States allows economic development and, with it, the development of political institutions. Terrorism may not stem from poverty, but terrorists love to work in poor countries - poor or collapsed societies provide an excellent viral media for them. Denying these poor countries hard-sought income will increase the likelihood that they will remain unable to deal effectively with terrorism. The fact that both political parties have flirted with such protectionism and the absence of support for trade with Africa is disquieting.
