Mind the Shipwrecks

I was reading Open Veins again during breakfast, when the wind stole my page. As I began to leaf my way back, I was grabbed by a title a bit later on. It was the header of the next section.

Part II: Development is a voyage

with more shipwrecks than navigators

Upon reading this, I was taken back to my development econ class with (retired) Professor Southey. Now this old man is sharp as a tack when it comes economics. On a sabbatical year during his youth, he went to Harvard to sit in on the lectures of Amatya Sen, only to act the gadfly by challenging and questioning Sen at every turn that he was able. I recall him saying something to the effect, “[Sen] might have even docked me one if he wasn’t such a perfect gentleman.”

During one of his first lectures to us, he had a memorable little speech. This is a paraphrase: “In all my years, in practice or in study of economics, there was never once was a time where I was able to do something that was good. However, there were countless times where I helped stop something that was thoughtless, ill-formed, unfounded and otherwise terribly stupid from being allowed to go forwards. That has been, and continues to be, the source of my greatest satisfaction...”

This echoes some thought I’ve been thinking about politics and development. A great deal of what I study as a student of political science is the long history and current developments of a region, punctuated by important moments and events, which are products of the avarice and barbarity fostered between nations [or within a nation]. That is, colonialism, neo-colonialism, coups, invasions and occupations. In regard to development studies, I’ve noticed that it is often the case that an initiative or program may have had positive intentions, but it often lead to negative consequences. Case and point, USAID food programs. So...

So perhaps, I guess what I'm trying to say is, any optimism that I may have once had as to making positive net gains have been chilled. Instead of jumping in and trying to make the world a ‘better place', perhaps its better to try to stop conditions from getting any worse. I may not be a navigator, which is probably for the best, but I sure hope I get a chance to avert a shipwreck at some point or another.