Somalia is experiencing progress according to several criteria, despite (or, some would say, because of) its lack of a strong central government. As a result, it is by far the fastest growing, fastest improving among all the less developed countries. This should be a model for the world..
As Robert Murphy points out in his latest article, despite the biased assessment of BBC's Reflects on 20 Years of Anarchy, careful analysis of conditions in the area suggest remarkable improvement in living standards.
For example, Somalia has the most vibrant telecommunications sector in Africa
Somali telecoms expert Ahmed Farah says the first mobile telephone mast went up in Somalia in 1994, and now someone can make a mobile call from anywhere in the country.
There are nine networks to choose from and they offer services from texting to mobile internet access.
In addition, the area is at the forefront of the development of the security industry,
What is particularly amusing is the complaint that businesses currently must pay private security firms to guard their goods. Well, a government police and court system won't work for tips — they too will need to be financed, but through involuntary taxation. As with any monopoly, the government's provision of a "justice system" will be more expensive — other things being equal — than the provision through private, competing agencies.
In addition, Murphy addresses several of the fallacies statist critics often commit in their assessment of the private security sector.
As Ben Powell et al. in his fantastic work has shown, so Murphy too concludes that if people in the more developed countries of the world wish to help the impoverished region, we can certainly send money and even visit to offer medical services and other assistance. But if the West foists the "gift" of another state on the beleaguered Somalis, their appropriate response should be, "No, you shouldn't have."
Its not a success of anarchy. Its just what should of been done with Africa from long long ago. Get out, let them fix their own problems instead of inserting dictators and throwing aid at them.
It's not anarchy, it's oligarchy. The telecommunications industry is thriving because they have money and guns. Just like anyone else there is thriving because they have money and guns.
Thriving small arms industry with rock bottom prices? Sounds great. Remember, guns are the great equalizer, which make a granny knitting club no less a pushover than a band of grunts. Where there is equality in power, there is peace. As such, these conditions are part of the reason for Peace in somalia. While the foreign opressors - UN, Ethiopia, US, are the reason for violence.
to tucker@mises.org date Mon, Jun 13, 2011 at 12:31 PM subject Interesting BBC article on Somalia's economy mailed-by gmail.com
hide details Jun 13
Hi Mr. Tucker, I've been a reader of the Mises Institute, and your pieces, for a couple years now. While reading through the BBC today, I came across a rather interesting article about Somalia's economy: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12278628 To summarize the article, Somalia's economy is not in a deep depression, as one might expect given the 20 years of conflict, but is booming, in a sense. I think it is a good piece because it shows how the free market simply works, no matter what the situation. As per usual for an article put out by an organization like the BBC, it heavily cautions against getting your hopes up, since no economy can survive with out the security and stability of a government! Although I suspect that the security concerns of the businesses mentioned center around the fact that the country is still in the midst of a civil war, not because of anarchy. I hope you enjoy the article, and find the BBC's consternation about Somalia's economy as funny as I found it.
Thanks for all the work you & The Mises Insitute have done so far,
(Jeffrey Tucker is the Vice President of the Mises Institute)
Anarchists are foolish idealists. The founders of USA understood the need to balance freedom and order. And, they established a framework for people to freely succeed according to their ambition that also restricted government power. Granted, after a few hundred years it is swamped by general laziness and nearly overcome by a demand for endless 'rights' without compensatory sacrifices by its citizens, but it's so robust that it's still succeeding for the most part.
Africa has been plagued by corrupt governments for years. You remove said corrupt governments and i'm sure 90% of the time the country will see an improvement. However, Anarchy anywhere else in the world? No. I really hope anarchists aren't naive enough to truly use this an example for their belief. But then again, in my opinion, naivety and Anarchism basically go hand and hand.
Thriving small arms industry with rock bottom prices? Sounds great. Remember, guns are the great equalizer, which make a granny knitting club no less a pushover than a band of grunts. Where there is equality in power, there is peace. As such, these conditions are part of the reason for Peace in somalia. While the foreign opressors - UN, Ethiopia, US, are the reason for violence.
Guns aren't the great equalizer. Death is the great equalizer. Oppressors are just whoever has the most guns.
Thriving small arms industry with rock bottom prices? Sounds great. Remember, guns are the great equalizer, which make a granny knitting club no less a pushover than a band of grunts. Where there is equality in power, there is peace. As such, these conditions are part of the reason for Peace in somalia. While the foreign opressors - UN, Ethiopia, US, are the reason for violence.
Guns aren't the great equalizer. Death is the great equalizer. Oppressors are just whoever has the most guns.
And who would that be? With 80% of the population owning firearms :p
Thriving small arms industry with rock bottom prices? Sounds great. Remember, guns are the great equalizer, which make a granny knitting club no less a pushover than a band of grunts. Where there is equality in power, there is peace. As such, these conditions are part of the reason for Peace in somalia. While the foreign opressors - UN, Ethiopia, US, are the reason for violence.
Guns aren't the great equalizer. Death is the great equalizer. Oppressors are just whoever has the most guns.
And who would that be? With 80% of the population owning firearms :p
Whichever group has the most money.
Groups form out of anarchy. No matter how much you think anarchy is self-persisting, all it will take is time before there are 1-3 groups who run everything
This is a joke right? Surely there is not a single sane person that looks at Somalia as a success story. Yea, 20 years of endless violence where its citizens have to turn to piracy to make money.
But apparently the US is at fault again, which is great because I was beginning to miss that dead horse.
Thriving small arms industry with rock bottom prices? Sounds great. Remember, guns are the great equalizer, which make a granny knitting club no less a pushover than a band of grunts. Where there is equality in power, there is peace. As such, these conditions are part of the reason for Peace in somalia. While the foreign opressors - UN, Ethiopia, US, are the reason for violence.
Guns aren't the great equalizer. Death is the great equalizer. Oppressors are just whoever has the most guns.
And who would that be? With 80% of the population owning firearms :p
Whichever group has the most money.
Groups form out of anarchy. No matter how much you think anarchy is self-persisting, all it will take is time before there are 1-3 groups who run everything
I almost think the thread title is arrogant in itself. Should be changed to "Somalia - Success of Anarchy?"
Awesome to see this, I'm glad that of all the wealthy, prosperous, and well-to-do nations in the world such as Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United States, there is a single example where a failed state has a thriving telecoms market.
Can we make a thread and list dozens of nations where a mixture of state capitalism has produced a standard of living that far exceeds anything ever seen in Somalia (which has had 20 years of anarchy, pretty good amount of time!) or would that detract from the awesomeness that is anarchy in action?
Thriving small arms industry with rock bottom prices? Sounds great. Remember, guns are the great equalizer, which make a granny knitting club no less a pushover than a band of grunts. Where there is equality in power, there is peace. As such, these conditions are part of the reason for Peace in somalia. While the foreign opressors - UN, Ethiopia, US, are the reason for violence.
Guns aren't the great equalizer. Death is the great equalizer. Oppressors are just whoever has the most guns.
Indeed.
It's bad enough that in a true democracy, the majority can still dictate the minority even if the majority is just barely over 50% and are completely ignorant. The same works with guns. Whoever has the most guns will be able to impose their will on others. To disagree is to be violent. I'll take democracy.
EPT![[image loading]](http://images.mises.org/DailyArticleBigImages/5418.jpg)
