Egyptian Boys In Rome, Tragedy Of Aylan Kurdi, And The Meaning Of Good Government In Developing Countries

But Africa is certainly not alone when it comes to lousy governments that waste foreign aid. More generally, it would be completely unfair to single out Africa for incompetent, ineffective, and corrupt governments that are unable or unwilling to improve the everyday lives of their citizens. In many countries of the developing world, hope is an awfully precious commodity, especially for the 99% of the population who are not part of the kleptocratic political elite that plunder their countries for their personal gain. Just as lack of hope for a better life drives Africans to cross the Sahara and take rickety boats across the Mediterranean, the same lack of hope for a better life drives Middle Easterners to flood into Europe either via the Mediterranean or over land across Turkey and the Balkans. The fundamental cause behind the influx of Middle Easterners into Europe is not Western imperialism or neocolonialism or thirst for oil or some ominous Zionist–Israeli plot or global anti-Muslim paranoia or anything else…