Confront Culture

Changing culture is very important for a nation in order to progress. I am reading a book right now entitled The Central Liberal Truth and within the pages lies the belief that some cultures are more suited for prosperity than others. This is utterly blesphemous within some anthropology and social science circles. But I think that the case studies he gives help prove his point.

Lawrence Harrison believes that some nations need to reject certain aspects in order to succeed. Catholic cultures need to reject the authoritarianism, and once they do they succeed. As seen within Italy, Ireland and Quebec. Protestant cultures, on the other hand, teach people to think for themselves and become literate. A lot of the prosperous nations in the world, according to the World Bank and UN charts are in fact Protestant. Confucian/Far East nations also have an inclination towards progress, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea are well adapted for success. Some nations have a hard time adapting to democracy, and needless to say places like Iraq really do not have a hope!

Turkey is Islamic, yet through strong leadership it was made better and more free. Afghanistan now has a strong leader who is pushing for democracy, and according to Freedom House, it is listed as Partially Free in 2006. Leadership and politics can reform a society. Using education and confrontation of the weak things within the nation can propel a society into international prominence.