The World Bank - Working for a world free of poverty

Views menu

Syndicate content

Conflict and Development

Is democracy bad for Kenya’s economic development?

Submitted by Wolfgang Fengler on Mon, 2012-01-09 17:56

When you are overtaken by yet-another reckless Matatu driver you may have sympathy for Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s long-time autocrat, who is credited with Singapore’s transformation from third world to first world. He once famously claimed: “Developing countries need discipline more than democracy.”

Neglected and poor widows in Mali

Submitted by Dominique Van De Walle on Fri, 2011-09-09 11:35

In common with many readers, I was aware of the discrimination and severe disadvantage faced by widows in many countries. 


Nonetheless, I was completely unprepared for what I found when I looked closely at the data for Mali.  As documented in my recent paper (Lasting Welfare Effects of Widowhood in a Poor Country, 5734), Malian women who have experienced the shock of widowhood, sometimes very young, have lower living standards than other women of the same age.  These detrimental effects persist through remarriage and are passed on to their children ─ possibly more so to daughters ─ suggesting an intergenerational transmission of poverty stemming from widowhood.

Veuves pauvres et négligées au Mali

Submitted by Dominique Van De Walle on Fri, 2011-09-09 11:32

Comme beaucoup de lecteurs, j’étais consciente de la discrimination et du sévère désavantage auxquels les veuves font face dans de nombreux pays. 


Néanmoins, ce que j’ai trouvé en examinant des données maliennes était bien pire encore que ce que j’imaginais.  Comme je le documente dans un récent article (Effets persistants du veuvage sur le bien-être dans un pays pauvre, 5734), les femmes maliennes qui ont connu le choc d’un veuvage ont un bien-être moins élevé que d’autres femmes du même âge.  Par ailleurs, les effets négatifs du veuvage persistent après un remariage et sont transmis aux enfants – probablement plus à leurs filles – ce qui suggère une transmission intergénérationnelle de la pauvreté engendrée par le veuvage.

Yes, South Sudan Can

Submitted by Shanta on Tue, 2011-07-19 22:43

At the recent launch of the book, Yes Africa Can: Success Stories from a Dynamic Continent, someone asked whether there are any lessons for Africa’s newest country, South Sudan.  I can think of at least three.


1.It can be done.  Yes Africa Can documents a number of countries, such as Mozambique and Uganda, which emerged from civil conflict and sustained above-7-percent GDP growth for over a decade.  It also describes the well-known case of a mineral exporter, Botswana, that had the world’s fastest per-capita growth rate (7 percent) from 1966-99.   These case studies show that South Sudan, which is both a post-conflict country and an oil exporter, can also succeed.

HIV/AIDS, the silent war in Africa

Submitted by Damien de Walque, co-authors: Damien de Walque, Deon Filmer on Mon, 2011-07-11 14:07

Under-5 mortality is often used—perhaps implicitly—as a measure of “population health”.  But what is happening to adult mortality in Africa? 


In a recent working paperi , we combine data from 84 Demographic and Health Surveys from 46 countries, and calculate mortality based on the sibling mortality reports collected from female respondents aged 15-49. The working paper is available here and the database we used for the analysis can be found here.


We find that adult mortality is quite different from child mortality (under-5 mortality)1.   This is perhaps obvious to most readers, but is clearly illustrated in figure 1. While in general both under-5 and adult mortality decline with per-capita income, and over time, the latter effect is much smaller for adult mortality, which has barely shifted in countries outside Africa between 1975-79 and 2000-04.


But in sub-Saharan Africa, contrary to under-5 mortality everywhere and to adult mortality outside of Africa, adult mortality increased between 1975-79 and 2000-04 and the relationship between adult mortality and income became positive in Africa as indicated by the upward sloping line in 2000-04.


This diverging and dramatic trend for sub-Saharan Africa is mainly driven by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. 

I was there when the Republic of South Sudan was born!

Submitted by Obiageli Ezekwesili on Sat, 2011-07-09 22:05


Obiageli Ezekwesili (c) with South Sudan President Salva Kiir (r). Photo: Laura Kullenberg, The World Bank


4:00 AM: I wake up this morning in Nairobi unusually excited and think to myself, “today is actually the Independence Day of South Sudan. Wow! This day has finally come!” I say a word of prayer for the day and get myself ready for the 5:30 a.m. trip to the airport to board our flight to Juba.

South Sudan: “Juba-lant” as dreams turn into reality

Submitted by Manka Angwafo on Tue, 2011-07-05 10:10


 Photo: A line of “boda bodas” queuing for fuel along the main road in Juba town


For the past three weeks I have been working in Juba, South Sudan. In a meeting with the government last week, an official said to me, “…we are dreaming, but come July 9th everything will change and our dreams will become reality.”


On July 9th South Sudan will become an independent country, following the longest civil war in African history.


Driving through Juba, one cannot fail to notice the preparations taking place; from the exceptionally clean streets and banners spread across public buildings to the soon-to-be national anthem on repeat on the radio. There is a sense of excitement, longing and hope.


However, tension surrounding the conflict in South Kordofan casts a cloud on celebrations and underscores the risks ahead. 

Six non-obvious points about conflict, security and development

Submitted by Shanta on Mon, 2011-04-11 10:12

Launched today, the 2011 World Development Report is on “Conflict, Security and Development.”  In making a presentation on its relevance to Africa to my World Bank colleagues, I counted six messages that are new and different.

1. 21st century violence is different from 20th century violence.
2. Conflict and violence are caused by a combination of weak institutions and external stresses.
3. Build good-enough coalitions to break the cycle of repeated violence.
4. Create jobs, even with second-best approaches that are inefficient and likely not sustainable.
5. Address external stresses alongside institution building.
6. International partners should do more good than harm.

More on each on them:

Economic Policy in Africa’s Youngest Country

Submitted by Shanta on Fri, 2011-03-18 09:59

UPDATE: Here is a copy of an interview I gave to Otieno Ogeda, from the Pioneer newspaper in Juba.


---------------------------------


I felt truly privileged to participate in a workshop in Juba on “Growth and Sustainable Development in the new Republic of South Sudan,” organized by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement. 


South Sudan, which becomes independent on July 9, 2011, faces extreme challenges and opportunities.  Devastated by civil war, the country has high and deep poverty.  The poverty rate is 51 percent. In a recent survey, among the assets of the population is “a pair of shoes”: among the poorest 20 percent, only 37 percent owned one. About 80 percent of the people earn their living from (mostly subsistence) agriculture.  Low levels of literacy (27 percent) translate to extremely weak capacity throughout.