Stability and Good Governance: Preconditions for Development

Speech to Board of Directors, North-South Institute
By David Kilgour, Secretary of State (Latin America & Africa)
May 13, 1998

It is a pleasure to be here today with people at the forefront of development issues. We owe a great debt to the North-South Institute for its insights, research and publications. You should be applauded for keeping development issues in our public dialogue. Hopefully, my comments today will contribute in some way to your discussions.
The lack of consensus about the meaning of the word "development" is often striking. Some express it in terms of economic progress; others in terms of some notion of "modernity"; and still others in terms of harder-to-define measurements of quality of life. All too often, there is a tendency to treat economic and political development as separate compartments, requiring different preconditions.
As an elected person with a background in economics – not something I usually admit in public – and now as I travel in Africa and Latin America as Secretary of State, I’m constantly aware of the interplay between the political and economic spheres. Recent visits to Africa and Latin America have underlined the importance of getting the politics right before we can even say: "It’s the economy – stupid." Equally, growth and stability in economies gives breathing room for democratic practices to take root.

Canada in the World

Our government’s statement on foreign policy a few years ago, Canada in the World, cites as a key objective the promotion of global peace as a central element of our foreign policy. To quote: "Stability and security are prerequisites for economic growth and development." If these are prerequisites, and they surely are, any discussion of development must address as its starting point the promotion of peace, democratic development and good governance. Without these three ingredients, no amount of foreign aid, no matter how carefully spent, can ever achieve "development." No matter how we define it, development can only be built on a foundation of political stability.Read More