TORTURE: ASIAN AND GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES | OCTOBER 2013
concerned. It is the first step on the economic run for the most impoverished among us to begin generating that wealth which will lead them to those levels of development that people in other countries enjoy. However, corruption and the poor rule of law are the biggest threat for such process, and this is not unique to Asia. The rule of law in this context includes the protection for people’s private property and the inability of third parties to commit fraud or to steal from people. The absence of rule of law does not guarantee clear regulations about what counts as private property, the respect for people’s voluntary contracts, their titles to the land they own and so on. These are absolutely the requirements for the generation of prosperity that outsourcing could allow for the impoverished population is Asia, or elsewhere. The kind of corruption that we are talking about, which includes things like grasp, predatory taxation, interfering in other people’s economic transactions, asking for extra payments or bribes, has marked human history for as long as we know and is one of the reasons which keeps people poor. From the perspective of economic historians like me, we are often asked what the causes of poverty are. An interesting question would be “what are the causes of wealth?”, because the normal state of human life has been a kind of parasitic grasping on other people. As soon as some groups begin to engage in productive activities generating value and wealth, other people come in and want to take from them and live off of it. Therefore, establishing the good rule of law and ending corruption are necessary for allowing Asian countries to realise the tremendous potential that they have. At the moment, there is a little bit of help through these outsourcing productions from western countries which employ local people, and that is certainly a benefit for both companies and those workers who get the opportunity of a job and a steady pay. Even if it’s only a little bit,
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they are improving their lives though not as much as it would be possible if corruption ended and the rule of law was enforced. LC: Back in the 19th and 20th centuries, the industrial revolution involved a great deal of speculation and exploitation all over Europe. Unfortunately it seems to be also the case in Asia nowadays. Is inequality, both in terms of law and regulations and in terms of earnings and wealth distribution, the price to pay for development as an initial stage of economic growth? JS: You mentioned two different kinds of inequality. One is inequality before the law and the other one is material inequality. I would argue that it is necessary for the development of any economy to have equality before the law but to allow inequality in material resources. What I mean by equality before the law is that every single person’s property and voluntary agreement must be respected and protected, regardless of what status they have in society, what race, colour or creed they are. When you have universal and equal respect for all persons, then you have the foundation that can allow people to engage in associations and partnerships which will begin to generate prosperity. Now, if you look at the other type of inequality, the material inequality is an inevitable part of a developing economy. Some people will generate and enjoy more wealth than others and there is no question about that. What do you see historically is that as soon as countries establish the rule of law we have been mentioning so far and allow people to engage in economy and decentralized decision making processes, everybody begins to get wealthier. They may not get wealthy at the same rate, but eventually everybody gets wealthier. You have to look over time at the poorest 10% or 20% of the population of any country. I will give you the example of the United States: in