Human Rethink Warns that Hope in the Development Space is Misplaced

AUSTIN, July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Underdevelopment in post-colonial countries is the endemic source of instability, disorder, and continuous human suffering in our world. The solution to the problem seems obvious: Get developing countries to develop like advanced economics to overcome poverty, corruption, bad governance, instability, war, dependency, and hopelessness for the masses. But is it too difficult for humans to devise such a solution? Or is a solution actively avoided?

In the "Open Letter to The Development Space" published on HumanRethink.org, director Samuel Odunsi Sr. explains that the problem may have been too difficult to solve until two years ago. But at that time, proxies of the development space were notified of a viable solution based on the foundational premises of the space and on empirical facts. Yet, the solution has been ignored.

The development space is the industry of multilateral organizations like the World Bank, IMF, OECD, and their sprawling support system in Academia and in the public and private sectors around the world. Judging by the sheer size of the resources it receives and consumes, much of humanity's hope for solving the underdevelopment problem is invested in the development space.

Yet, the central issue addressed by the solution is a taboo subject for the development space. The central issue is the proverbial elephant in the room, always present but avoided. According to Odunsi, the development space is yet to show how a problem can be solved by actively avoiding the cause.

This aversion to reality over many generations and its strict enforcement has placed institutional limits on the use of imagination for addressing underdevelopment. The result has been abject stagnation. The development space has not made a meaningful step towards a solution since the 1950s. Odunsi points out that superficial initiatives like the MDGs and SDGs serve to divert attention away from the fundamental cause of the problem.

There is arguably no other problem area in the human condition that consumes as much intellectual and financial resources for its resolution but with so little to show for it, Odunsi maintains. Stagnation on this scale and for this long is probably not tolerable in any other area of study and investment.

The Open Letter begs the question: Is the development space engaged only in poverty management? If the answer is yes, then the world needs to invest hope and resources elsewhere.

But if, as widely assumed, the development space is committed to liberating the majority of humanity from poverty and middle-income, if the goal is to help developing countries become self-sufficient and catch up with advanced economies as China is doing, then it is impossible to achieve. The current ideas and actions of the development space will simply not allow that.

The means to fulfill the world's optimistic investment in the development space is already here. Let's watch if it will continue to be ignored.

The Open Letter is available here: https://humanrethink.org/open-letter-to-development-space/

Human Rethink is a research organization founded by Samuel Odunsi Sr. Our purpose is to end the problem of underdevelopment in our world so that the majority of humanity can also experience the stability, security, and prosperity currently enjoyed by developed countries. Get more information at www.HumanRethink.org

Media Contact:
Samuel Odunsi Sr.
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512-537-5942

SOURCE Human Rethink