We talk about developed and undeveloped countries which makes the difference between countries and cultures seem somewhat binary. For the sake of this example, imagine that the development of countries is analogous to the development of a house that is being constructed. It's a big house that is never quite fully developed, there's always room for more construction, for more development.
I am not trying to universalize cultures or the means of development. I am simply attempting to enlighten you with another perspective. You see, there's an obvious difference between a five story house and a house that has yet to build on top of its base. But their similarity is most important. The construction of both houses must start at the bottom and build on top of the established base.
Imagine that the surface of the base is determined by, and reflects, local traditions, norms, values and rules. The base is relative to the particular culture. When constructing, one must understand the particular culture in order to support the structure. Much too often, the efforts of the World Bank, IMF, UN, and other international agencies has been to copy a unite of another house and establish it on a base which they don't understand.
This can spell, has spelled and spilled into, disasters. The top-down placing of their copied unite crushed little structures at the bottom. They didn't see that the base was slanted down that angle or that their hierarchy was not in harmony with the size of the structure. The whole structure crumbles and limits other potential construction. They didn't understand that providing insufficient treatment merely builds resistance and takes away from other cost-effective, and just as necessary, projects only to perpetuate the tragedy. They didn't understand that democracy and free market require bottom-up development.
Ignorance or was it because they sought personal gain at the poor's expense?
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