Independence & development: economic & political independence
20 July 2012
MARTYN NAMORONG | Part 1 of a two part series
ONE OF THE FUNDAMENTAL IDEAS behind the creation of nation states is the right of a people to self determination.
Self-determination is about a people being in charge of their destiny. The idea of a people being fully in charge of their own affairs is expressed in the word sovereignty.
Sovereignty of a people expresses itself as political independence, economic independence and cultural and societal independence.
Political independence in its fullness, finds itself in the way political power is exercised by the citizens of a nation state. In order for citizens to exercise these powers, they must have greater political capital than any organization, institution or foreign influence.
A nation state in which it's citizens have less political capital than other third parties, is not a politically independent state.
I have decided to use political capital as a marker of true political independence as it expresses who has greater influence on the agenda of a nation's highest legislative entity- parliament.
Declarations of independence and the creation of parliaments are mere symbols of the desire of a people to have full power and authority to execute decisions about the destiny of their nation.
Parliaments and constitutions are symbols of authority. Ultimately, though, the exercise of authority or the execution of powers is determinant on whether the authority has the resource capacity.
If the authority has its own resources, it exercises its own powers. If the authority has its resource needs supplied by a third party, its powers are exercised merely as the will of the third party.
If theaAuthority has its needs supplied by its people, then it expresses the will of the people.
If one looks at the relationship between resource ownership or wealth and the exercise of political power, one understands that political power is based upon the ownership of wealth.
In other words, economic independence of a nation, produces true political independence of a nation state. Political independence is only a facade if the nation is not economically independent.
In any context, economic independence means local ownership of resources and the means of production for the utilization of natural wealth (aka natural resources). Local ownership is crucial to having the general will of the people being expressed through a political authority.
If resources within a political boundary are owned and exploited by foreigners or a few elite, the political authority or government reflects the will of these parties. in instances where the "state" owns the resource, the governments decisions reflect the will of those who create the enabling mechanism for exploiting the resources. Therefore, whoever controls the wealth of a nation controls the state.
If the exploiters are state apparatuses then the government decisions reflect the will of those in power. If the exploiters are private individuals or companies, then the power relationship is relative to how much private investment went into the exploitation. The greater, the private investment, the greater the power the private investor has in the relationship.
All governments need resources to exercise their power. it is therefore in the interest of governments to ensure that they have a sustainable and reliable supply of resources.
If the state owns and supplies its own resource needs, then the state promotes its own interests. If citizens supply the resource needs of the state, the state protects the interests of its citizens. If corporations supply the resource needs of the state, the state protects the interests of corporations.
In today's context, governments also have resources supplied in the form of loans and foreign aid. The state would obviously listen to the suggestions of these parties as well. Even churches and other non-government-organizations that indirectly supply resources by playing the role of the state, undermine political independence.
As a stated earlier, political independence is the exercise of the general will of the citizens by their government. As soon as the government diverges from this paradigm, the people lose political independence.
Political independence however, is founded upon economic independence. Economic independence is the control of the wealth of a nation by a majority of its citizens.
Economic independence is a necessary precursor for the creation of a politically independent nation. A nation for the people and by the people is only possible where the people are in charge of the economy of the nation.
In Part 2 tomorrow, I will look at cultural/social sovereignty and examine what it is and how it is undermined by psychopaths in order to control the economy and by extension, governments.
Very helpful to my research.
Posted by: David Hallen | 09 October 2012 at 08:24 AM