Mark Twain quipped that the lack of money
is the root of all evil. Humans are irrational,
but societies are rarely so, until they choose to
become extinct. Understanding the economic factors
underpinning society helps us to appreciate the
process of change better than an independent
evaluation of all else.
In past articles,
I have shown the impact of economic incentives in
addressing terrorism, [1, 2] as a determinant of
foreign policy [3] and as a guide to
reconstruction [4]. An over-reliance on other
factors, such as religion,
human emotions, politics, nationalism, makes for
interesting debate but usually ends up as an
exercise in romanticism.
The success and
decline of religions, as well as the failure of
political systems such as communism, all hark back
to economic factors. The ability to feed and care
for adherents has too often been mistaken for
spiritual success, in much the same way that
religion can be blamed for entrenched inequality
and poverty - for example, by its role in
maintaining social strictures that in essence
allowed vested interests to flourish in various
countries. Communism collapsed not because it is a
bad idea per se, but because the idea is
inconsistent with cold economic realities.
Oldest profession Even in the
most basic of human activities, economic rationale
rules. Women choose men based on their ability to
provide economic security for their offspring and
themselves. Men in turn choose women based on
their own status in society, getting the women
that best represent their position. This is why
some old, rich men are with nubile members of the
opposite sex. At the social level, this translates
into a definition of success that allows many
humans to make rational choices. In this
environment, both men and women may choose
alternative lifestyles when they fail to make the
grade in their own societies.
Thus it is
that the brothels of Manila are sustained by
middle-class Westerners, most of whom are in
effect frozen out of acceptable choices back home.
Similarly, as evidenced during the rapid decline
of the Soviet Union, a number of women failed to
secure mates with adequate prospects for providing
security. They were thus forced to accept
alternative sources of sustenance, more popularly
referred to as the world's oldest profession,
although other types of the same business -
mail-order brides, for example - also became
common.
In turn, the observation that a
society has failed when it exports its women as
whores stands true, albeit for economic rather
than any patently nationalist reasons. Whores get
all the attention; a wider failure of Russia and
the Eastern European countries is apparent from
the number of maids, nurses and other menial
laborers who have become available for the world
economy.
What then can we make of the
armies of people who are willing to sacrifice
their lives in the name of religion? While an
initial explanation can be found in the habitual
irrationality of human behavior, one can also
discern variations on the theme. American
philosopher Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs
explains much about what human beings hanker
after, and suggests that more prosperous humans
are likely to turn to more irrational pursuits.
Perhaps this explains why most religious leaders I
have encountered are corpulent - and this is an
easy test for most of you. Think of your religious
leaders, irrespective of which cloth they adhere
to, and compare that mental picture with the
social average.
That is not the full
answer, though - as I observed elsewhere, many
people turn to extremist political organizations
such as the Maoists and al-Qaeda simply because of
an absence of any economic opportunities. It is a
proven fact that poor people are more easily
radicalized than rich ones, for the simple reason
that convincing people with nothing to lose that
there is a potential upside to even the most
hare-brained ideas is easier.
Extremist
organizations are thought to compensate the
families of suicide bombers, while Hezbollah even
compensates its support base for material losses
such as property in a bid to retain its
popularity.
Social is economic The relative prosperity of some against the
deprivation of others has always provided grounds
for human introspection. Social structures that
evolved from such introspection have allowed the
maintenance of vested economic interests. In
ancient China, the Confucian ethic of subjecting
one to a greater good reigned supreme.
It
forced individuals to accept the jobs thrust upon
them by society and, by denying opportunities for
self-maximization, allowed the maintenance of the
status quo. Even so, a number of regime changes
effected through the history of China were at the
behest of economic interest groups, in particular
the trading community. Any emperor who could not
guarantee safety and security for traders, or who
dared to collect excessive taxes, found himself at
the sharp end of a sword soon enough.
In
India, introspection on the economic gaps gave
rise to the much-reviled caste system. As a way of
imposing fatalism on right-thinking individuals,
the caste system is without parallel. It
subjugated millions in the name of sins committed
in a vague past life, with promises for
advancement in the next. In effect, it served to
keep the peasants quiet and acquiescent, and
rarely changed in form until modern India became
independent in the 20th century. Conquerors from
other religions, including Islam and Christianity,
simply failed to end the excesses of the caste
system despite ruling India. The only reason for
their reticence was economic, not religious.
Overestimating religion Perhaps
the greatest failure for the young and the
romantic is to overestimate the power of religion
in shaping society. Throughout history, religions
have depended on the economic success of their
societies, and indeed often claimed credit for
prosperity as a way to expand the numbers of the
faithful. Some of the first religious regime
changes in the world came about in India, when
Buddhism supplanted Hinduism as the religion of
state, after its adoption by the Emperor Ashok.
It spread to the rest of Asia by trade
rather than theological means, as traders paying
taxes to Indian emperors slowly converted to
Buddhism. In turn, they spread the religion for a
purely selfish reason, as a way of enhancing the
common interests that could help to avoid a trader
cheating another. As you couldn't Google your
prospective counterpart to check his reliability,
the alternative "club membership" became religion.
For
