Constitutional Influence on Developing Countries

Just many countries copy their constitutions

from Western countries, I mean, word for word.

They never had these things, ever,

for a thousand years. But-

Yeah

... oh no, let's jettison everything we have,

and let's install parliament.

Okay, and then let's have these elections.

Um, and, and, and let's just do them every four years

because the

Americans are doing it every four years.

Yeah, we're doing it every five years.

Yeah. Well, you know what I mean. Um, so, so

vast majority of developing countries did that.

Um, and they all thought

when they... once they

adopted these rules,

once they took these medicines, they will become rich just

like Western countries

very soon.

Um, but they did not.

Most of them,

uh, did not succeed. Um, uh, many of them

were still mired in civil conflicts,

um, poverty,

um, very, uh, unsatisfactory. Uh, the, the one country,

uh, fortunately, I'm from that country, China, uh, said no to that.

Yeah.

Okay.

Amazingly.

Yeah. They, they said, you know, we're gonna adopt some of the stuff,

but not the other stuff. We, we, we're gonna pick and choose,

um, uh, based on our own circumstances

and our own cultural heritage and our own political system

and our own values.

Um, so

we did that, and, and I s- I believe

I fortunately belong to the generation that witnessed the great success,

uh, of that path.

Um,

so I would, based on that experience,

recommend this-

Yeah

... to other Global South countries and say, "Look, the

medicine you took

after 1990 didn't work for you.

You look as sick as ever,

if not sicker.

And by the t- by the way, the doctor that pres-

prescribed the medicine to you has

now fallen ill. Look at them.

So try something different." Every-