Conflicts such as the current ones in Syria, the unfinished ones in Afghanistan and Iraq, seemingly endless like Sudan and many more in Africa and worldwide, share the dramatic loss of lives and extensive destruction. We count the victims in thousands and we get astonished by the images of devastated cities.
There has been dramatic loss of lives and
extensive destruction in many conflicts before, but the nature of conflicts has
not always been the same. The motives, the tactics and technology, the duration,
the beliefs and goals are always different. Without wanting to get into those
differences, there is one key aspect that is essential for the prospects of
recovery, sustained peace and development. That is the belief in the possibility
of peace itself in the minds of those suffering the conflict, the belief of future
prosperity, the belief that the awful pain and suffering is somehow worthwhile,
or at least will be, if not forgotten, overcome by a better life in the future.
Thousands die in these conflicts, but millions
get displaced from their homes, suffer the loss of their beloved ones, see
their lives get destroyed. They are left behind suffering unbearably and still
do not understand why their relatives are sacrificed, when or how they got
involved in so much pain and when they will be released from it. A whole
generation has grown up in places like Sudan (failed state since 1991) knowing
nothing else but war. In these conflicts the entire population gets involved in
massive violence and death without clear idea of what is happening: they have
no side, no option, not even a goal to fight for or a vision of something other
than war.
European countries overcame disaster and rose
prosperous after the Wars. I wonder if that would be the future for today´s
countries in conflict. Right now it seems very difficult to foresee peace and future
prosperity for the people of Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Sudan. Their trauma
and deep pain seem to last forever, mixed with rage, despair and hate. When
people are hurt in a way so strong, without evident purpose and the possibility
to fight for something better (as the soldiers of the Wars did), their
suffering might just not disappear ever. That suffering spreads to others and
destroys people´s lives and their hope and belief for the future, and that is
precisely what worries me the most.
Development economists wonder trying to find
the root of growth and prosperity of nations. Since Adam Smith in the 18th
century we have been trying to explain economic growth and what makes some
nations rich while others stagnate. Geography, culture, institutions and
politics, accumulation of capital and technology, are among the main factors we
have to try to answer those questions. And still, we are far from being able to
fully explain the dramatic differences in prosperity between nations. One key
factor is without doubt something difficult to measure. And that is precisely
the power of the human spirit to work for a better future. But when many people
are hurt at the same time, the mass of suffering inflicted may just “poison”
that society for a long time and handicap that spirit. The prospects for
development, for peace and prosperity and a better quality of life are
devastated for years.
War, famines, colonialism, invasion, genocide, humanitarian
disasters and the like, in the past as in the present, are the kind of traumas
that break the path for development for many nations. There is traumatic
capital loss - human, physical and social -, institutional failure and environmental
distress. But the major reason why these traumas hinder development is that
they debilitate the human spirit. They diminish the belief in each other, the
belief that all our hard work is worthwhile. They set our minds in the past,
they trap us in all the suffering we experienced and in the pain we cannot get
rid of. That suffering and pain that does not let us see ahead and plan for the
future. Prosperity depends precisely on that belief in the possibility of a
better quality of life, the belief in each other, in hard work knowing that it
pays off. My hope for the people that suffer conflict today is that they,
somehow, remain powerful enough to fight and work hard for a better future for
their offspring. It is the force of the human spirit, its desire to succeed and
do things better, which drives development and takes us further as individuals
and as a society. That is the real force which drives saving and investment, research
and innovation, sound policies and institutional set up, our struggle with
geography and nature. It is the true force behind growth and development, the
essential force behind the wealth of nations. As Kepa Aulestia puts it “the
future of a country depends on the self esteem with which their people face the
upcoming”.
