A similar lesson might be drawn from contrasting India, some parts of which were under Eurpoean rule for over 300 years, with Pakistan, which came under East India Company rule in 1846 and 1849.

Whatever happens we have got
The Maxim gun and they have not.

But now they have Kalashnikovs. Too many of them:

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htun/articles/20070417.aspx

“The disruptive effect of all these guns has halted, or reversed, decades of progress in treating endemic diseases. Death rates from disease and malnutrition are going up. All because of several million Cold War surplus AK-47s getting dumped in Africa. The world market for such weapons was glutted by the late 1990s. All that was left was Africa, but only if you were willing to sell cheap. The gunrunners were, and still are.”

The only thing that will stop the Africans from massacring each other with them is if some foreigner comes in, in which case they will be temporarily reunited — shooting at the foreigner.

(Also, extremely interesting point about Pakistan by Bob.)

(from http://purpleslog.wordpress.com/2006/05/03/4gw-nation-building-as-soft-colonizationtime-ranges-in-warconflict-and-memes-wars/ )

A brilliant comment!

Did you catch Coming Anarchy's report [1] on the best colonizers? [2] You're lucky if you're run by America, Holland, Britain, or French.

PurpleSlog — thanks for the link… and the research!

[1] http://www.cominganarchy.com/archives/2006/10/20/who-was-the-best-colonizer/
[2] http://www.slate.com/id/2151852/nav/tap2/

Thanks! I joined the discussion over at your blog, “Hidden Unities”!

Lexington,

“The only thing that will stop the Africans from massacring each other with them is if some foreigner comes in, in which case they will be temporarily reunited — shooting at the foreigner.”

My hope is rather a resource-intensive global consumer comes in with enough investment money to build up basic infrastructure while working with the native elites. A good candidate would be China.

Unfortunately, Africa's bitter taste probably discourages any outside country from doing the social work that the English and French put into the continent. So we will probably get a Putin style buildup of things rather than people. (In other words, a few good years, then back to the abyss.)

I have responded to your thoughtful post with my own.

“Europe Devastated Africa, Yet Africa Could Save Europe”

http://hiddenunities.wordpress.com/2007/04/22/africans-should-return-the-favor-to-europe/