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News Alert: Chile Discovered, UK Uncovered (on eve of G-20 Summit…)
By Kaufmann | March 30, 2009 No Comments »
Unknown to many, another Summit has just concluded: the ‘Progressive Leaders’ (center-left) just met in Chile, hosted by her President, Michele Bachelet. It was also attended by the leaders of the UK, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Norway, and by the U.S. VP, Joe Biden.
In the press conference that Ms. Bachelet held jointly with UK’s Gordon Brown she mentioned that Chile had saved vast revenues from its copper exports “during the good times”, enabling it to enact a fiscal stimulus package of close to 3% of GDP…
This detail, as well as many other facets of Chile’s exemplary macro-economic management have been known for quite some time (at least to some people). So it is not surprising that this mention about the macro-economy in her press conference has not been widely reported by the Chilean or Latin American press.
In sharp contrast, UK’s famed Financial Times (FT) of London picks this up rather prominently. I think that the statement by Bachelet was neutral, simply describing facts about responsible policy-making in her own country. But the FT makes a big deal about the “setback” that she inflicted on Gordon Brown by making such a statement, even titling the article as “Chile echoes attacks on Brown’s policy”.
The bad news (UK uncovered?): it seems that in today’s world, if you are a well governed developing country, you better keep this quiet when with a G-8 leader, lest the latter not be embarrassed and suffer a “setback”. Before the G-20 Summit in a few days (April 2), it is not welcomed by some to hint that some key members of the G-8 may have had misguided macro-economic policies. And sadly the embarrassment factor seems to be compounded when the contrast is made with good governance practices of a developing country…
The good news (Chile discovered?): the reality of the state of governance around the world is beginning to emerge, hinting that there are countries outside the G-8 and G-20 that provide good governance lessons (surprise!). I have mentioned the messages that emerge from such good governance countries in previous blog entries, and in particular in my last post I discussed the good-governance-group-of-8 (ggg-8) small countries.
The daring thought: what if Gordon Brown (and Obama and other key leaders) came to the G-20 summit with a measure of humility, and candidly acknowledged that there has been blatant mis-governance in their countries? What if they pledged a renewed effort at responsible leadership and good governance?
The evidence is so clear regarding what has happened in recent times in their countries. It may constitute a sign of strength for G-20 leaders to acknowledge now the major mistakes incurred, what they have learned from them, and to draw from the positive lessons that come from uninvited countries, such as from the ggg-8.
None of the ggg-8 countries is going to the London Summit. Yet it could not have escaped notice to the UK delegation that 3 members of the ggg-8 were present at the Chile Summit of Progressive Leaders this weekend — namely Uruguay, Norway and Chile.
Gordon Brown is now on the way back to London, almost ready to host the G-20. He is in a unique position to bring up the good governance examples of these countries. He would be reminding us all that good governance is achievable, and that the global crisis requires looking beyond the confines of the G-8 or G-20.
Topics: G-20, Public-Private Linkages, Transparency, capture, financial crisis | | Read and Submit Comments