Heñorga, Vince Emmanuel DR. Sir Gian Paolo S.

Ines
2BPL Introduction to Comparative Politics
Reflection Paper 2

The emergence of great nations did not just take one day to be fulfilled, as well as relating
the famous adage of John Heywood saying that “Rome wasn’t built in a day”. It takes a long and
complex process of forming a nation with assurance that citizens will have the capability to govern
themselves as well as to willingly submission to the sovereign which will then have also the
capability to govern, but then again, not all nations are the same and every country in the world
are either in a prosperous growth or in a declining rate. Superpower countries like the United States
of America is a prime example of a wealthy country that has combined culture, geographical
advantage, historical grassroots, and institutional reforms. Tackling these topics made me
remember the saying of United States founding father and 3rd president Thomas Jefferson stating
that “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was
and never will be.”
Education is a powerful weapon, it is an investment to which is implanted to the mind of
every people who are willing to cultivate it, as it grows, it fosters new ideas and empowers
absorption of knowledge or what is called “human capital” to produce a breed of citizens capable
of performing efficient labor and contribute to the economic value. Educated citizens are also an
essentiality to a Nation-State, that is why some wealthy nations are applying meritocracy in their
governing system for it to be genuine and effective. Literacy also plays a big part, the more literate
of a country is, the more it will be successful in terms of economics and cultivation of institutions
Moreover, all countries have bound cultures within their spheres, it is mentioned on one of the
educational videos that culture affects whether a country is rich or not, this is entirely true because
based on what I have researched on historical events that happened, the United States of America
and Europe have transitioned into the Industrial Revolution whereas not all areas of the Africa
engaged into this and thus, staying in their primitive ways with a strong cohesion on tribal
grassroots and the preservation of their culture. In addition, even though Africa is rich of natural
resources, this continent is suffering from modern colonial era wherein countries in Africa are
being exploited by wealthy countries with help from offshore banks or suffering from internal
pathology of corrupt governance and political warlordism. With culture being a hindrance to the
advancement of certain countries, on one of the videos that I watched, the presenter said that belief
is quite so bad to wealth creation and hereby stating that “here-and-now is not important so the
remedy is only spiritual.” This is particularly true, but on the other hand, I think that the cultivation
of culture will boost the economy if it is properly maneuvered. In other words, further introducing
a particular country’s unique culture to the world will empower tourism as this is a major sector
of the economy. Geography also has a vital role in the circumstances of a country, landlocked
countries like Uganda, South Sudan, and Zimbabwe have a low chance of socio-economic
development because of constraints in terms of being remote, apart from the sea, and without
access to markets and thus, weakening the capability of those countries to propagate capital. On
my observance, the formation of institutions is perhaps the most important aspect of a country’s
development. Good governance is a basic requirement towards building a healthy Nation-State,
through this, we can assess that institutions of the government genuinely provides its services in a
positive manner such as: A transparent and accountable government, establishment of meritocracy,
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non-partisan civil governance, introduction to free enterprise and competitive markets, assurance
of investments of citizens through property rights as mentioned, stabilization of politics as also
mentioned (e.g., absence of secession, brewing radical internal conflicts), an impartial judicial
system, etc. As for the Philippine context, rampant corruption and intended misuse of allocated
resources are still present within our sphere. Characterized by patronage politics and kakistocracy,
the richness of natural resources of the Philippines is shadowed by those incompetent and corrupt
incumbents that are always ready to exploit these resources in order for their own gain and
advantage, thus, kleptocracy is also ever-present. As long as there is no political system reform
that will address these problems, the socio-economic growth of our country will continue to decline
and be taken advantage along with political feuds between strong family elites that are amassing
their power and wealth with an inevitable conflict to be followed.
In conclusion, the importance of a well-established institution is important because this
encompasses the features of a certain country. Building the very foundations of a country through
good governance, empowering education, cultivating culture in a controllable way, promulgation
of incentive rewards system, and various systematic socio-economic reforms through accepted
standards verified by the citizens and the government and thus, being inclusive institutions rather
than extractive institutions, it is well assured that every sectors of a country will work towards the
bright future of the Nation-State.

References:
Visual Capitalist. (n.d.). Mapped: The 25 Poorest Countries in the World.
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-the-25-poorest-countries-in-the-world/
Merchants and Mechanics. (n.d.). Why Nations Fail: Extractive and Inclusive Institutions.
https://merchantsandmechanics.com/2017/11/27/why-nations-fail-extractive-and-inclusive-
institutions/
Economic Research. (n.d.). Why Are Some Countries Rich and Others Poor?
https://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/page1-econ/2017/09/01/why-are-some-countries-rich-
and-others-
poor/#:~:text=Differences%20in%20the%20economic%20growth,a%20nation%20to%20escape
%20poverty.
CNN. (2018, January 2). Why The Wealth of Africa Does Not Make Africans Wealthy.
https://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/18/africa/looting-machine-tom-burgis-africa/index.html

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