Re: UNITED NATIONS: Third World Lacks C -Reply

JC WANDEMBERG (mailto:juwandem@NMSU.EDU)
Tue, 11 Mar 1997 09:43:25 -0700 

Message-ID:  <Pine.A41.3.95q.970311091720.51176A-100000@hector.NMSU.Edu>
Date:         Tue, 11 Mar 1997 09:43:25 -0700
From: JC WANDEMBERG <mailto:juwandem@NMSU.EDU>
Subject:      Re: UNITED NATIONS: Third World Lacks C -Reply
To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU


On Mon, 10 Mar 1997, Jonathan Sanford wrote:
snip
> Many developing countries have been reluctant to allow foreign companies

> to explore their territory, since they hope that a national firm might

> eventually undertake the effort.

snip


Dear Jon, I don't think think this represents an accurate statement of
what has happened and is still going on in developing countries.
Developing countries are perhaps more desirous of foreign investment than
foreign companies are of getting there, the problem is, however very
complex, local employment displacement for one thing (one of the reasons
that motivated people to protest the 5th of February against the ousted
president of Ecuador, Abdala Bucaram, were the privatizations schemes).


I also oppose foreign 'aid' in disguise since the only thing this does is
to perpetuate the dependency on aid and the continuous  over-exploitation
of artificially-low priced natural resources for the benefit of a few.


> In many cases, state-owned electrical firms are so inefficient that major

> savings could be effected simply by a conversion of the plants to private

> management.



Surely they are inefficient, they are bureaucarcies! but changing public
bureaucracies for private ones does not solve the problem and may actually
exacerbate it. What needs to be done is replacing bureaucracies for
organizational structures that allow for purposeful and sustainable
enterprises, namely organizational structures based on the
Second Design Principle, i.e.,Participative Democracies.


> In Honduras, for example, state-owned electricity plants have

> been leased to private operating firms.  The result has been an increase in

> output, a reduction in costs, reduced noxious emissions, and a predictable

> lease-fee (rather than an operating loss) for the government..



So far so good , but what about he privatization of Viasa, the Venezuelan
airline? it was privatized in 1991 and just went broke a couple of weeks
ago! again changing public bureaucracies for private ones is not the
solution!!!


> I don't know if this is an all-purpose cure for what ails the developing countries.

> Probably not.  But the role of the private sector in future energy production is a

> legitimate issue.



Sure the role of the private sector has become increasingly important but
so has government intervention also, perhaps a look at Georges Soros
article "The Capitalist Threat" might help us get a better view of what
needs to be done.


Regards,


     ************************************************************
     |J.C. Wandemberg                                           |

     |Ph.D Graduate Researcher                                  |

     |                                                          |

     |                                                          |

     |INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR NATURAL, ENVIRONMENTAL        |

     |& CULTURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IIRM)                    |

     |College of Agriculture & Home Economics (NMSU)            |

     |Box 30003, Dept. 3169, Las Cruces, NM 88003-003 USA       |

     |URL:http://web.nmsu.edu/~juwandem Email:mailto:juwandem@nmsu.edu |

      **********************************************************


Nota:Las opiniones aqui vertidas son de exclusiva responsibilidad de su
autor y no representan necesariamente la posicion del Instituto.


Note: The opinions expressed here are the exclusive responsibility of its
author and do not necessarily represent that of IIRM.