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The New Tyranny

How development experts have empowered


dictators and helped to trap millions and millions of
people in poverty.
BY
WILLIAM EASTERLY-MARCH 10, 2014
On the morning of Sunday, Feb. 28, 2010, the villagers of Mubende Distrit, !ganda
"ere in hurh "hen they heard the sound of gunfire. #hey ame out to find men
torhing their homes and ro$s. #he soldiers held them off at gun$oint from resuing
their homes% one 8-year-old hild "as tra$$ed and died in the fire. #he soldiers then
marhed off the 20,000 farmers from the land that had been in their families for
generations.
#he reason for the violene "as that a forestry $ro&et finaned by the 'orld (an)
"anted the land.
#he only thing that distinguishes this e$isode from the many human rights violations
that ha$$en in the name of develo$ment is that it got unusual $ubliity. The New
York Times ran a front-$age story on it on Se$t. 21, 2011. #he 'orld (an) the ne*t
day $romised an investigation.
'hat is most revealing of all about this e$isode is "hat ha$$ened ne*t+ nothing. #he
'orld (an) never investigated its o"n ations in finaning this $ro&et. ,o", &ust after
the fourth anniversary of the Mubende tragedy, it has been forgotten by nearly
everyone e*e$t its vitims.
#he sad neglet of the rights of the $oor in Mubende follo"s from the ideas behind the
global "ar on $overty. #hose "ho "or) in develo$ment $refer to fous on tehnial
solutions to the $oor-s $roblems, suh as forestry $ro&ets, lean "ater su$$lies, or
nutritional su$$lements. Develo$ment e*$erts advise leaders they $ereive to be
benevolent autorats to im$lement these tehnial solutions. #he international
$rofessionals $er$etrate an illusion that $overty is $urely a tehnial $roblem,
distrating attention a"ay from the real ause+ the unhe)ed $o"er of the state
against $oor $eo$le "ithout rights. #he ditators "hom e*$erts are advising are not
the solution -- they are the $roblem.
#he individual eonomi and $olitial rights ruial to develo$ment inlude all those
"e ta)e for granted at home, suh as the right to your o"n $ro$erty, the right to trade
"ith "homever you "ish, the right to $rotest bad government ations .don-t burn
do"n our houses/0, and the right to vote for $olitiians "ho do benefiial ations .lean
our "ater/0. #ehnial e*$erts in develo$ment sometimes onede some rights and
deny others, "hih disres$ets rights for "hat they are+ unalienable. #he !ganda story
sho"s the Mubende farmers- la) of both eonomi rights .rights to their o"n
$ro$erty0 and $olitial rights .$revented at gun$oint from $rotesting0.
#he tyranny of e*$erts that neglets rights is first of all a moral tragedy. 1t reflets a
double standard in "hih "e res$et rights for the "orld-s rih -- is it oneivable that
"e "ould forget these farmers if the story had ha$$ened in Ohio2 -- but not for the
$oor.
The technocratic approach of dictators advised by experts is also a
pragatic tragedy, beca!se it does not act!ally "or# to end poverty$ ,e"
researh by eonomists on history and modern e*$eriene suggest that free individuals
"ith $olitial and eonomi rights ma)e u$ remar)ably suessful $roblem-solving
systems. Suh systems based on rights re"ard a deentrali3ed array of $eo$le+
4onomi entre$reneurs "ith $ro$erty rights get to )ee$ the re"ards of solving the
$roblems of their onsumers. 5olitial entre$reneurs at many government levels and
in many de$artments get re"arded "ith a longer tenure in offie if they solve the
iti3ens- $roblems, and they are driven out of offie if they don-t.
1n ontrast, !ganda-s ditator 6o"eri Museveni .a longtime favorite of develo$ment
e*$erts0 an use re$ression and $atronage -- finaned, for e*am$le, by the sales of the
Mubende farms -- to stay in offie des$ite harming his o"n sub&ets.
Fousing on rights yields t"o $ers$etives on ho" develo$ment suess ha$$ens. First,
soieties that have already attained individual freedom are li)ely to have already
esa$ed $overty. 4onomists have gone ba) dee$ into our o"n history to onfirm this
"idely-ae$ted story for ho" "e in the 'est esa$ed our o"n $overty, but "e seem
un"illing to onsider that the same story ould $lay out in the rest of the "orld.
Seond, soieties in "hih there is a $ositive hange in in freedom "ill li)ely see a
$ositive hange in $ros$erity .ergo, ra$id eonomi gro"th and fall in $overty0.
Des$ite the indifferene or even hostility of develo$ment e*$erts, freedom is s$reading
any"ay to some $laes outside the 'est.
#he lifetime of a 7orean $easant born in 1819, :hung ;u-yung, illustrates "hat an
ha$$en "ith gro"ing freedom. :hung "as born into a soiety that had only reently
abolished a rigid lass system that inluded slaves and <out-astes,< in "hih he "ould
have had little future. = 1818 7orean delaration of inde$endene said <by $roteting
our individual rights to freedom our &oy shall be full.< #he ;a$anese olonial regime
then ou$ying 7orea "as less enthusiasti about individual rights, )illing >,900
$eo$le demonstrating for inde$endene and &ailing ?@,000 more. 1n :heamni village
near Su"on, the ;a$anese herded villagers into the loal hurh, lo)ed the doors, and
burned it do"n.
:hung and other 7oreans "ould get more freedom after liberation from ;a$an in 18?9.
=t first, ho"ever, South 7orea-s $ost-inde$endene rulers im$osed e*tensive ontrols
on 7oreans- eonomi rights, suh as restriting trade "ith foreigners and sei3ing most
of the re"ards. (ut then :hung sa" 7orean rulers ede more and more eonomi
freedom beginning in the 18@0s. :hung also lived to see the trium$h of $olitial rights,
after student $rotesters and other ativists fored autorats to allo" demoray, "hih
South 7orea has no" en&oyed for a Auarter entury. .South 7orea is often
misharateri3ed as an autorati gro"th mirale, "hih fails to understand the theory
that "ould math hanges in $ros$erity to hanges in freedom. #he orretly $redited
math in South 7orea is bet"een a mirale of ra$idly rising $ros$erity assoiated "ith
the falling $o"er and then disa$$earane of autoray.0
:hung ;u-yung too) advantage of these e*$anding freedoms to leave the infertile land
of his home village and to found an auto re$air sho$ in Seoul, rehabilitating vehiles
disarded by =merian ou$ation fores. (y the time Ford arrived in South 7orea in
the 18@0s, loo)ing for a 7orean manufaturer to $rovide hea$ labor for Ford ars,
:hung "as ready for them. Ford indulged :hung "hen he "anted to move from
assembly of Ford designs to atually doing 7orean models, fearing little from a man
and a ountry that had barely seen a ar before 'orld 'ar 11. Ford "o)e u$ too late to
the om$etitive threat of :hung-s om$any that he had given the 7orean name for
<modern<+ Byundai. South 7oreans at home hose :hung-s hea$ small ars to solve
their $ersonal trans$ortation $roblems. 4ventually, onsumers in the rest of the "orld
got eAually enthusiasti about Byundai ars, reating rising inomes for South 7orean
"or)ers. #oday, the Byundai Sonata "ins Auality a"ards in the !.S. mar)et, Byundai
is the "orld-s fourth-largest auto om$any, and :hung is only one of the many
s$ontaneous $roblem-solvers -- individual entre$reneurs, traders, tehnology
imitators, and $olitial ativists -- that ended $overty in South 7orea.
So "hat should "e do about rights for the $oor2 5ossible starting $laes for 'estern
$oliy hanges are to not fund ditators, to not su$$ort $ro&ets that torh farms, to
not brea) $romises to investigate rights abuses, and to not let us forget suh abuses
and missing investigations.
(ut obsessing too muh on the <"hat should "e do2< Auestion should not hand the
agenda ba) to the same tehnial e*$erts "ho have sho"ed so little interest in the
rights of the $oor in the first $lae.
The danger of s!ch a tyranny of experts is ill!strated by a long history of
politicians !sing technical poverty debates as an exc!se to avoid debating
rights for the poor$
#he onentration on e*$ert develo$ment has $roven remar)ably useful to evade the
rights of the $oor for nearly a entury. 1n 1818, at the #reaty of Cersailles tal)s after
'orld 'ar 1, !.S. 5resident 'oodro" 'ilson &ustified the transfer of former Derman
=frian olonies to (ritain as $art of a <trust< for the <hel$less $arts of the "orld,<
"hih "ould be <administered for the benefit of their inhabitants...during the $eriod of
their develo$ment.< #he "hole effort "ould be guided by e*$ert )no"ledge, "hat the
former 5rineton $rofessor grandly alled <the ounsels of man)ind.< #he idea of
e*$ert develo$ment "as a "elome distration from the $olitial reality of ontinuing
olonial des$otism in =fria in the interests of the oloni3ers.
1n 1829, tensions flared in the (ritish olony of 7enya bet"een "hite settlers and
indigenous =frians "hose lands the settlers "ere ta)ing. 1ns$ired by the tehnial
a$$roah to develo$ment set out at Cersailles, olonial offiials- res$onse to these
tensions "as to suggest doing a re$ort on (ritish =fria that "ould be a <dis$assionate
study of the fats< -- evading the real issue of the "hite settlers violating the rights of
indigenous =frians.
#he eventual <dis$assionate study< "as not om$leted until 1E years later. = olonial
offiial named Ford Bailey had alled u$on an array of tehnial e*$erts in many fields
to $rodue a 1,8E> $age re$ort, $ublished in 18E8 as <=n =frian Survey.< #hese
e*$erts made many $reise tehnial reommendations. = sur$rising number of these
reommendations -- for e*am$le, <nitrogen-fi*ing legumes< for soil fertility -- are
idential to those made by !nited ,ations and Dates Foundation e*$erts on =fria
today.
#he same olonial offiial, Ford Bailey, too) a further ste$ to use tehnial
develo$ment to evade the rights debate in the (ritish 4m$ire during 'orld 'ar 11.
Ford Bailey rebutted those -- inluding some =merian ommentators -- "ho "anted
to end the em$ire after the "ar, &ustifying its ontinuation as an agent for <the
betterment of the ba)"ard $eo$les of the "orld.< Be onveniently assumed that
=frians "ould vie" <$olitial liberties< as <meaningless unless they an be built u$ on
a better foundation of G eonomi $rogress.< 6et again, tehnial develo$ment done
by a state "ith unhe)ed $o"er "as an e*use to $ost$one indefinitely onsideration
of human rights.
1ronially, these develo$ment ideas outlasted the (ritish 4m$ire they had &ustified.
#he em$ire olla$sed sooner than e*$eted, in the late 1890s and early 18@0s. 6et the
same tehnorati neglet of rights a$$ealed to the indigenous =frian autorats "ho
too) over after olonial rulers left. #he same develo$ment eonomists "ho used to
advise the :olonial Offie no" advised the ne" autorats .for e*am$le, later-,obel-
5ri3e-"inning eonomist Sir =rthur Fe"is did both, "or)ing "ith 7"ame ,)rumah of
Dhana after it beame inde$endent in 189>0. 'here autorats used to a$$eal to the
divine right of )ings, autorats ould use the e*$erts to artiulate the develo$ment
right of ditators.
,egleting the rights of =frian iti3ens also a$$ealed to =merian foreign-$oliy
e*$erts "ho sought those same autorats as allies in the :old 'ar, emented by loans
from the ne" $ost-'orld 'ar 11 organi3ation staffed by tehnorati e*$erts+ the
'orld (an). Deades of eonomi stagnation in =fria follo"ed.
#oday, there is yet again a !.S. tehnorati embrae of autorati allies in =fria and
else"here, this time for the <"ar on terror,< still fueled by 'orld (an) loans. #he !.S.
military-s <=fria :ommand< vie"s !ganda-s Museveni as a <)ey !.S. strategi
$artner,< $roviding troo$s to hase terrorists in Somalia, for e*am$le. #he tehnorati
vision made it $ossible for Billary :linton, "hile seretary of state, to declare that
<defense< .of the !nited States0 and <develo$ment< .of the rest of the "orld0 "ere
<mutually reinforing,< thus enabling a grand alliane for develo$ment bet"een
humanitarian and national seurity interests.
!nfortunately, it is this same $olitial alignment that lets the 'orld (an) get a"ay
"ith its o"n violations of rights in Mubende, !ganda "ithout even an investigation.
#he same $olitis also hel$s e*$lain the failure of the develo$ment establishment to
$rotest the 'orld (an)-s violations and its missing investigation of its o"n violations.
(eause of this long history, the debate bet"een authoritarian and free develo$ment
never really ha$$ened. So the hoie that develo$ment made a long time ago to $refer
the tyranny of e*$erts over the rights of the $oor sadly ontinues today.
#here still remain many om$assionate $eo$le in the 'est "ho have all the right
motives to as) <'hat should "e do2<
=nd the ans"er is to have the authoritarian versus free develo$ment debate that never
ha$$ened.
1t is time at last for the tyranny of e*$erts to end. 1t is time at last for the silene on
uneAual rights for the "orld-s $oor and the "orld-s rih to end. 1t is time at last for all
men and "omen to be eAually free.
This article is an excerpt from the book The Tyranny of %xperts& %conoists,
'ictators, and the (orgotten Rights of the )oor, published in March 2014.
orrection !March 20, 2014"# $n earlier %ersion of this article, which hi&hli&hts
a 'orld (ank)financed pro*ect, carried a photo of the +nternational Monetar,
-und. The photo has been corrected to one of the 'orld (ank.

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