Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy presents
Why Africa remains poor, but Asia becomes richer
Lecture
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy presents
Lecture
19th April 2018
5.15-6.30pm
Seminar Room 3-1, Level 3, Manasseh Meyer, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore.
Professor Roel van der Veen, Head of Political Department, Dutch Embassy in Jakarta and Professor at the University of Amsterdam
Chaired by Dr Namrata Chindarkar, Assistant Professor, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
Free
Over the last 50 years the development trajectories of what used to be called the Third World have gone in different ways for different continents. Africa remains struggling to reduce poverty, whereas many Asian countries have been very successful in making rapid progress in many economic and social aspects of society. Why have the two continents drifted so far apart?
Roel van der Veen, professor of international relations at the University of Amsterdam, has studied both the reasons why poor countries remain so easily poor (like in Africa), but also how to escape from this almost predetermined path (as in Asia). In his analysis he links politics with economics, social relations and culture, and international with domestic aspects. It provides a framework for understanding the developmental road travelled by countries.
Image by DFID – UK Department for International Development.