Developmenent zambia

6

Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction 1
2.0 Background of Zambia 1
3.0 Ideology and national development 1
3.1 Humanism 2
3.2 Capitalism 3
4.0 The Reintroduction of Capitalism and Privatisation 3
5.0 An analysis on the effects of ideologies on the development of Zambia 5
6.0 Conclusion 6
Bibliography


1.0 Introduction
The importance of an ideology in the development of a society cannot be underestimated or ignored. In that the ideology acts as the driving force to the many activities and decisions that will be made in that society. The ideology will affect what will be prioritised and what will not be much emphasised in the society. It cannot thus be left without say that the African society beliefs and ideology have at most contributed to the pace at which the developmental programs of the social and economic life of the people have been undertaken in the respective nations. Thus it is of this view that this paper seeks to discuss the effects of ideologies on the development of the economic sector of Zambia.
2.0 Background of Zambia
Zambia is a land locked nation meaning that it has no sea coast and that its boarders are inland not bordering with the sea or ocean. Its boarders is surrounded by eight nations. Zambia has for a long time enjoyed relative peace and tranquillity, an atmosphere that supports sustainable socio-economic development to take place. The nation is a democratically governed, with peaceful and smooth transitions that have already taken place. The nation has a highly centralised form of governance, where the central government undertakes most of the developmental functions and tasks. Since independence the economy has been largely relying on one major resource, coper. This has made it a challenge that when the prices on the world market are favourable the economy of the nation records some growth and when they are low the economy is negatively affected as well.
3.0 Ideology and National Development
Ideologies play a key role in the way a society is run, conducts and implement its programs. The kind of which will be valued and prioritised, and the kind of which will not be entertained, all depend on what kind of an ideology the society has adopted.
3.1 Humanism
Humanism has the dignity of man as its first priority. It 'assigns the human being a special position in the scheme of things… it resists the tendency to treat humanity scientifically as (the same with other organisms and as) part of nature.' Zambia, and not only Zambia, but most of the African nations as well had through their leaders, adopted this perspective from which they viewed the human person as valued and an end in himself. They wanted it to be an ideology of their young nations after gaining their independence. They had called it African humanism, which was to be 'based on the African tradition of communalism, according to which the group takes precedence over the individual,' and which was to some extent supposed to replace capitalism which they argued that it was exploiting man, as it was brought by the colonial masters. As it 'was thought by Nkrumah, Senghor, and Nyerere that "capitalism" was incompatible with African culture and that the colonial heritage was equated with capitalism.'It was out this view that a more socialist and egalitarian approach to the running of the national programs was adopted.
Kaunda as the first leader of the young Zambia adopted this view and taught it in schools, to the extent that those who knew it better and well were having better chances of earning a promotion on their jobs in companies which were state controlled. It was to be a uniting force for the common task of economic, social and political development.With a fight of European capitalism as it was seen as enslaving the African people, a somewhat more socialist approach was to be used as a driving force of the economy.The goal of the adoption of this ideology can be seen as to achieve a more just and equitable society against the capitalist that has competition and as it was seen as promoting class competition and more of individualistic approach kind of ideology, against the African spirit of communalism. African humanism was in the literal sense supposed to be a complete replacement of capitalism which was rejected by the African leaders.
3.2 Capitalism
An ideology in economics that favours 'a system of exchange that depends on the economic freedoms to own private property and to buy, sell, and invest the property as one wishes.' It provides the individual with all the freedom that they need to inverts for it gives security to the investor that his business will not be grabbed at will from the central authority. In capitalism there is confidence and security from the state, for one to enjoy the profits of their businesses. It favours competition and massive investments from private sectors of the society individuals, have the courage and the will to opportunities to start-up businesses.
It is because of the individualist kind of nature attached to capitalism that the African leaders and in particular Kaunda opted not to go for capitalism in his quest to develop the young nation that had just gained its independence. He argued that capitalism was exploitive in nature and thus to have meaning freedom from the exploitation of colonialism, it was fitting to do away with it.Capitalism thus was not entertained in the early years of the young Zambia.
4.0 The Reintroduction of Capitalism and Privatisation
After the change of government, and from the background of a failed ideology of humanism that was seen to have failed the economy and the development of the nation. The new government abandoned humanism and begun to adopt capitalism a more private oriented system as a remedy to the failed humanism and nationalisation. They the new government of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy, MMD in short, begun a programme of privatisation, which was supposed to privatise or in short to sell all major government run companies to private owners in attempt to boost the economy. It was to be an attempt to save the economy that was retell dead and foster private sector participation and a move to have a reduction in state control of companies. This was to as well record its own failures later.
Privatisation saw the closure small and other most important companies lost their value due to regional competition that they could not manage to compete with. Almost two-thirds of the companies declined within the 1992-2000 period. This resulted in job losses and thus reduction in development. However, a majority of large companies showed a positive growth rate. Privatisation saw massive losses in state resources, where the companies that were sold and as a result lost their value and could not run any, have not been able to be revamped again.
Privatisation did not come just on its own, it was coupled with a free market policy that affected negatively on the smaller companies that had small income in that they could not manage to compete with the cheap goods that were brought in on the market at high speed. The sector to be hit had because of this was the textile industries, in that second hand clothing that were imported were cheap and of a fairly good quality. Thus a chain reaction of value lose through to the cotton famers. Most of these companies that were put on privatisation where sold to foreign investors, who had the cash in hand to purchase the companies even though, the Privatization Act allowed Zambians to pay in instalments.Thus the idea of zambianisation of Kaunda was completely lost, this as well did not favour the development of the nation in that foreign owners took the profit back to their home countries.
5.0 An Analysis on the Effects of Ideologies on the Development of Zambia
In the early years of the independent Zambia, humanism was to be the ideology of the nation, which was to use a communal approach to national developmental programs. It was to guide all activities and policies of the government on both social and economic activities the nation was to undertake. In his implementation of this ideology Kaunda thought to, in what was called Zambianisation, which was the nationalisation of all economic sectors of the nations. Where the 'principles of hard work and self-reliance were considered instrumental in the promotion of an egalitarian society, where the traits of generosity and hospitality prevailed.'Nationalisation had not only the problems of lucky skilled men and women to run the parastatals, but also of corruption as well. There was a growing trend of incompetence that, the part in government had begun to monopolise the allocation of important positions in the parastatals. This lead to lose of resources and capital through corruption and ineffectiveness. The lost in value of the most dependent upon commodity which is copper, on the global market, as well affected the young and undiversified economy.
On the other hand, the much despised ideology of capitalism, allows the competition and more business players in the economy of a nation. Since as seen earlier, that capitalism gives an assurance of security and the enjoyment of profits by the business owners, more and more business players are drawn to participation and to invest into an economy that is more competitive and that is friendlier to the investor. The problem of nationalisation of all businesses and the running of the economy that Kaunda's government faced was all about skill in the running of businesses. Kaunda simply did not have the required skill to do it. Thus this lead to the collapse of the economy in the years between 1975 and 1990. While on the other hand privatisation did not have the proper planning and that it was supposed to be given for its effectiveness.
6.0 Conclusion
It cannot thus be underestimated to the extent of how an ideology can affect the development of nation, either positive or negative the impact is still felt. Zambia's humanism has been seen as a failure in as far as the economy is concerned. The effect of the remedy that was not in some way properly planed is still in effect to this very day where, the loss of jobs and the slow purse of the growth of the economy is the talk of everyone. Abject poverty is as well still very high even after 50 plus years after being independent.












Assessment of Development Results Evaluation of UNDP Contribution Zambia, UNDP 2010, 9.
R. AUDI, the Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, Second Edition, Cambridge University
Press, New York 1999. 396.
GEORGE THOMAS KURIAN, The Encyclopaedia of Political Science, by CQ Press, a division of SAGE
Washington, DC 2011.
R. H.BELL, Understanding African Philosophy. A Cross-Cultural Approach to Classical and
Contemporary Issues, Routledge New York and London 2002, 36.
A. STEWART, Beyond African Humanism: Economic Reform in Post-Independence Zambia. Institute of Government, Tennessee State University 330, 10th Avenue North Nashville, Tennessee. Marcel Dekker, Inc.
2000, 523.
R. H.BELL, Understanding African Philosophy. A Cross-Cultural Approach to Classical and
Contemporary Issues, Routledge New York and London 2002, 37.
GEORGE THOMAS KURIAN, The Encyclopaedia of Political Science, by CQ Press, a division of SAGE
Washington, DC 2011.
R. H.BELL, Understanding African Philosophy. A Cross-Cultural Approach to Classical and
Contemporary Issues, Routledge New York and London 2002, 36.
A. STEWART, Beyond African Humanism: Economic Reform in Post-Independence Zambia. Institute of Government, Tennessee State University 330, 10th Avenue North Nashville, Tennessee. Marcel Dekker, Inc.
2000, 537.
J. SERLEMITSOS and H. FUSCO, Zambia Post-Privatization Study. The World Bank Washington D.C.
2003. iv
J. SERLEMITSOS and H. FUSCO, Zambia Post-Privatization Study. The World Bank, Washington, D.C.
2003. 25.
A. STEWART, Beyond African Humanism: Economic Reform in Post-Independence Zambia. Institute of Government, Tennessee State University 330, 10th Avenue North Nashville, Tennessee. Marcel Dekker, Inc.
2000, 527.
A. STEWART, Beyond African Humanism: Economic Reform in Post-Independence Zambia. Institute of Government, Tennessee State University 330, 10th Avenue North Nashville, Tennessee. Marcel Dekker, Inc.
2000, 532.