Burkina Faso: Understanding the Issues in Poverty and Natural Resources
MIDN 2/C Alexandria Thomas
Professor Lewis
FP366 Section 6001

I. INTRODUCTION “On the strength of one link in the cable, Dependeth the might of the chain, Who knows when thou mayest be tested? So live that thou bearest the strain.” This powerful law, written by Admiral Ronald Hopwood , was created to act as a moral basis for the members of Britain’s Royal Navy to live by. As time went on, many navies and other military forces have embodied this law and have applied it to many aspects in life, especially in international relations. If one country is failing, then its allies and surrounding nations are failing as well. Burkina Faso currently has the world’s …show more content…
I will later research these same issues for South Africa and compare the two …show more content…
In the case of Burkina Faso, an issue in domestic policy is most likely the cause. During the 1950s and 1960s, African Socialism was on the rise and was a dominant ideology while African nations were gaining independence. The embodiment of African Socialism was essential to domestic policy during these times and leaders who strayed away from this belief, like that of Thomas Sankara, were often ostracized. This form of socialism stressed having a closed state led economy and extensive ownership of all public good productions while maintaining unity. This was the “African way” of handling the economy. The problem with this is that if there is corruption, which often happens with African nations, there is no way of fixing or balancing the issue because there is only one form of power. Compaoré was this one form of power as he held fast to African Socialism and never sought reform. An example of his overbearing power is best displayed by the huge spike in poverty referencing Figure (1a) during the 1990s. The spike in poverty during the 1990s is a direct result of “the expansion in employment [which] was fuelled by an increase in labor supply that was not matched by an increase in demand and led to a decline in earnings”, a failure on Compaoré’s part