By Sudhakar Jamkhandi, Ph.D
We’re all familiar with the phrase “going global.” Some of us even engage in this practice. How many of us, though, are familiar with the concept of “building the capacities of emerging democracies and market economies?” Surely this is the responsibility of new democracies or new market economies themselves, right? And just what does “building the capacities of emerging democracies and market economies” entail? Are they capable of building their capacities to become responsible players in the global economy? If they are unable to do so, whose responsibility is it to build their capacities—their own or someone else’s? Why does it matter if they are economically sound and politically stable?
Undoubtedly, most of us would agree that the responsibility of building capacity rests with each nation; however, some nations’ stability—political and economical—may have been disrupted by inevitable internal, or unavoidable external, forces and factors. In some cases, other nations may step in to help rebuild. In other cases, these nations are treated as pariahs and are left neglected by the rest of the world.
Currently, we see evidence of disruption in a few nations in Eurasia, the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa. How many nations are assisting these destabilized regions of the world? How much international trade are these countries engaged in? Is international trade even on their minds? Surely not, in some cases, since folks in some of them are fearful for their lives from one moment to the next. Thus, notions of trading with the rest of the world go out the window. Only survival matters.
In some traditional societies/nations, the infrastructure—transportation, telecommunication, rule of law and democratic institutions, for instance—and the mindset of the citizens need to be addressed concurrently. Tremendous efforts are thus underway by developed nations and the United Nations and other NGOs (non-governmental organizations) to help lesser developed/exploited regions of the world transition into the 21st century even as some insist this is detrimental for those nations/societies.
In what ways does it benefit the U.S. and other developed nations to ensure stability and economic viability of new democracies and emerging market economies? Surely it is in everyone’s best interest that new democracies and market economies are stable and adhere to rule of law—unless, of course, one is an arms dealer.
The U.S. has been engaged in rebuilding nations with increased involvement since World War II. In some instances, in the aftermath of regime collapses the U.S. has helped stabilize countries militarily, mostly with the goal of ensuring sovereignty of such nations and not establishing prolonged occupation. Such U.S. foreign policy initiatives of peace and trade are manifested through the many good works of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of State and the Open World Leadership Center.
These federal organizations manifest the executive and legislative branches’ immediate and long-term foreign policies through numerous capacity-building projects related to education, health care, social services, democracy institution-building and the establishment and adherence to rule of law. These federal agencies, in turn, work with primary and secondary U.S. contractors which are primarily non-government, not-for-profit organizations. Among the hundreds of secondary contractors in the U.S. is the Princeton, WV-based Center for International Understanding, Inc.
Since 1994, hundreds of West Virginia and southwest Virginia entities within the private, public and NGO sectors have partnered with the Center for International Understanding, Inc. in capacity-building activities for professionals from more than 55 newly emerged democracies and market economies.
West Virginia governors have seen fit to support capacity building of such nations and thereby have upheld (and even promoted) U.S. foreign policy initiatives of peace and trade. From mayors and city councils to county commissions and members of the state legislature, the need to build the capacities of emerging democracies and market economies has been well recognized and supported.
Beneficiaries of the capacity-building activities of both West Virginians and southwest Virginians have included professionals from Asia (Nepal, Afghanistan, Iraq, China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore), Africa (Zimbabwe, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Namibia), Central and South America (Mexico, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, Colombia and Ecuador), Eastern Europe (Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo) and Eurasia (Russia, Armenia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan).
If we are agreed that nurturing the capacities of these new democracies and market economies will help their citizens to purchase our products and services, what have we done to date to build their capacities? And how will this activity of capacity-building help us—that is, our companies and our children who are the future workers in our companies? How has the U.S., or even West Virginia, contributed to building the capacities of newer democracies and emerging market economies?
Over the past 16 years, international professionals who have been in West Virginia and southwest Virginia have learned about subjects that might seem mundane to some or might be among those “givens” that others take for granted. These include topics of study such as accounting and auditing reform; agri-business and agricultural economics; arts and culture; budget formulation; business development; corporate governance; democratic institution building; democratic policing; economic restructuring; educational reform; elections; energy and mining; environmental preservation issues; forestry and forestry-related industries; historic and cultural preservation; infrastructure development and maintenance; library and information services; local and regional accountable governance, including federalism; public and private housing; print, broadcast and electronic media; private voluntary organization development; rule of law; rural/public health; social services delivery; tourism and hospitality development and management (eco-, agri- and geo-tourism); telecommunications; women’s leadership development and youth issues/leadership development/advocacy.
The next time you are called upon to meet international professionals from emerging democracies and market economies, know that you will be engaged in people-to-people diplomacy and that you will be fully engaged in U.S. foreign policy initiatives of peace, trade and capacity as well as democracy institution building right here in your own backyard.
