------------ EH.NET BOOK REVIEW --------------  
Published by EH.NET (October 2006)  
  
Jonathan Krieckhaus, _Dictating Development: How Europe Shaped the   
Global Periphery_. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2006.   
x + 251 pp. $28 (paperback), ISBN: 0-8229-5914-3.  
  
Reviewed for EH.NET by Sylvain H. Boko, Department of Economics, Wake   
Forest University.  
  
  
This book's stated objective is to provide an answer to the   
"fundamental" question: "why do some countries achieve substantial   
and sustained economic growth while others do not?" According to   
Jonathan Krieckhaus, the conventional-wisdom answer includes the   
prescription that countries should adopt "market-friendly economic   
policies ... [and] invest in education and health." However, the book   
attempts to distinguish itself by adopting an approach focusing on   
how international events affect domestic economic growth. This   
approach is not in and of itself new. However, the book's central   
thesis is that the key determinants of growth in developing countries   
are heavily influenced by their colonial legacy. Krieckhaus contends   
that Europe played a determinant role in shaping the institutions in   
its former colonies. Further, he argues that the structure and   
outcome of growth in former colonies have been dictated externally,   
for example, through wars, foreign aid, and the vagaries of   
international markets.  
  
In a manner reminiscent of the Dependency Theory, Krieckhaus claims   
that "by far, the most effective route to economic success over the   
last forty years" is avoidance of European colonialism. The author   
gives the examples of Japan, Thailand, China, South Korea, and   
Taiwan, as cases of countries that have shown rapid growth since   
1960, while managing to avoid European colonization. Krieckhaus   
states further that among the countries that were colonized by   
Europe, those that became colonies after 1885 suffered worse because,   
after that date, colonialism became more exploitative. Indeed, many   
readers might be shocked by the book's conclusion that Europeans "did   
not attempt to build state capacity or invest in human capital;   
rather, they imposed states that inhibited property rights." The   
suggestion is that European colonization worsened the initial   
conditions of underdeveloped countries, thereby largely negating   
their chances at rapid economic growth.  
  
Krieckhaus conducts a three-level analysis showing that countries   
with high levels of European settlement, such as United States,   
Canada, and Australia, have also traditionally experienced high   
levels of growth. This is because when they settle in a territory,   
Europeans, who have "mastered the art of sustained increase in per   
capita GDP," tend to establish a capitalist system based on respect   
for property rights, a liberal state, and investment in human   
capacity. Countries partially settled by Europeans, such as South   
Africa, Brazil, and Algeria, show a better growth performance than   
countries that were extractive colonies, although the benefits tend   
to be confined an elite minority. Finally, the worst performing   
countries tend to be those in Africa and Asia, where Europeans'   
interests were to "conquer, plunder, and proselytize."  
  
To illustrate his points, the author focuses on three case studies:   
Mozambique, where the Portuguese excluded the Africans from acquiring   
skills conducive to modernization; South Korea, which had its   
1,300-year history as a unified state to draw upon as it experienced   
modernization under Japanese colonial rule; and Brazil. Brazil's   
particularity is that it was partially settled by Europeans, the   
result of which is the establishment of a dynamic capitalistic   
economy that encompasses a portion of the society, but which has been   
influenced by various international shocks all the same.  
  
The author proposes a "reconceptualization" of the growth literature   
to account for the fact the "international system dictated" the   
pattern of development throughout the world through major shocks such   
as wars, market shocks and foreign aid. For example, empirical   
results in Table 4.8 augment the standard growth model by analyzing   
the effect of war and aggression on economic growth. The results are   
mixed, depending on whether wars are defined as "economically   
relevant" or are of external or internal sources.  
  
Overall, the book tackles the very important, but complex, issue of   
the impact of European colonization on the development outcomes of   
countries today. I come away from reading the book with more   
questions than answers, however. It is not clear to me if the author   
is suggesting a neo-dependency theoretical approach to growth   
analysis or if this is just an augmented form of the standard growth   
theory approach. The use of the standard (and over-utilized)   
econometric growth model to illustrate the suggestion of a different   
paradigmatic understanding of the various patterns of growth around   
the world presents an analytical challenge not resolved in the book.   
The author's call for a "holistic empiricism," which involves the   
consideration of country-level specificity and history in growth   
analysis also presents methodological challenges for empirical work.   
In addition, it is not clear whether the insights obtained from this   
historical approach to understanding growth and development present   
any policy choices for policymakers in the countries involved. For   
example, should periphery countries sever their ties with Europe and   
the rest of the "international system" in order to optimize their   
chances of growth? And, despite the havoc wrought on countries'   
resource bases by Europe's brutal resource-extractive colonial   
policies, why have vast numbers of populations in Africa continued to   
wallow in poverty forty years after independence? Does European   
colonization sufficiently explain the types of growth-suffocating   
policies being implemented by countries around the world or the   
endemic corruption present in some countries?  
  
These shortcomings notwithstanding, the book's attempt to deconstruct   
suggestions that colonization was a "civilizing" enterprise for   
Europe is to be applauded.  
  
  
Sylvain Boko is the author of _Decentralization and Reform in Africa_   
(Kluwer, 2002).  
  
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