Home > Author > Paul Collier
1 " Persuading everyone to behave decently to each other because the society is so fragile is a worthy goal, but it may be more straightforward just to make the societies less fragile, which means developing their economies. "
― Paul Collier , The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It
2 " Suppose a country starts its independence with the three economic characteristics that globally make a country prone to civil war: low income, slow growth, and dependence upon primary commodity exports. It is playing Russian roulette. That is not just an idle metaphor: the risk that a country in the bottom billion falls into civil war in any five-year period is nearly one in six, the same risk facing a player of Russian roulette. "
3 " Elections determine who is in power, but they do not determine how power is used. "
4 " Launching a turnaround takes courage. I cannot measure that and so it is not going to be included in my analysis, but behind the moments of change there are always a few people within these societies who have decided to try to make a difference. "
5 " Rebels usually have something to complain about, and if they don't they make it up. All too often the really disadvantaged are in no position to rebel; they just suffer quietly. "
6 " Without an informed electorate, politicians will continue to use the bottom billion merely for photo opportunities, rather than promoting real transformation. "
7 " Not all developing countries are the same. "
8 " Poverty is not intrinsically a trap, otherwise we would all still be poor. "
9 " Electorates tend to get the politicians they deserve. "
10 " Politicians would only move beyond gestures once there was a critical mass of informed citizens. "
11 " Change in the societies at the very bottom must come predominantly from within; we cannot impose it on them. "
12 " You are a citizen, and citizenship carries responsibilities. "
13 " The key obstacle to reforming aid is public opinion.. Public opinion drives them into the "I care" photo opportunities that dominate aid. "
14 " Most conduct is guided by norms rather than by laws. Norms are voluntary and are effective because they are enforced by peer pressure. "
15 " The aid agencies are not run by fools. they are full of intelligent people severely constrained by what public opinion permits. "
16 " And so a miserable but possible scenario is that countries in the bottom billion oscillate between the traps and limbo, perhaps switching in the process from one trap to another..Let me be clear: we cannot rescue them. The societies of the bottom billion can only be rescued from within. In every society of the bottom billion there are people working for change, but usually they are defeated by the powerful internal forces stacked against them. We should be helping the heroes. So far, our efforts have been paltry: through inertia, ignorance, and incompetence, we have stood by and watched them lose.Let me be clear: we cannot rescue them. These societies of the bottom billion can only be rescued from within. "
17 " An identity of being ‘on the left’ has become a lazy way of feeling morally superior; an identity of being ‘on the right’ has become a lazy way of feeling ‘realistic’. "
― Paul Collier , The Future of Capitalism: Facing the New Anxieties
18 " Populism offers the headless heart; ideology offers the heartless head. "
― Paul Collier
19 " Encouraging your firm to have a decent sense of purpose is your contribution to society, but continuing to work for one which lacks purpose is personally soul-destroying. "
20 " The transformation of power into authority is essential for building reciprocity across huge groups of people, such as everyone accepting the obligation to pay their taxes. Leaders are not engineers of human souls, but they can harness our emotions. The dangerous leaders are those who rely only on enforcement. The valuable ones are those who use their position as communicator-in-chief at the hub of their networked group – they achieve influence through crafting narratives and actions. All leaders add and refine the narratives that fit within the belief system of their group, but great leaders build an entire belief system.28 "
