market economy.^24 Elaborated on the initiative of the heads of state of
Algeria, South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, and Senegal, the NEPAD sig-
nals a new stage in African history, for it has gone further than any
earlier project in identifying the true problems of Africa in the area of
political and economic governance. With the aim of putting a halt to
the continent’s structural dependence on international loans and
handouts, NEPAD emphasizes the role of the private sector as the only
possible key to African development. NEPAD was extremely well
received by the international community, which has promised to take
an active part in the realization of its objectives, so long as African
governments make good on their commitment to adopt structural
reforms that will improve the business climate in the region.
The recent period has also witnessed incomparable social progress
at the global level. This is particularly true when it comes to health. In
barely forty years, life expectancy in developing countries has shot up
by eighteen years.^25 In China, it has gone up by a spectacular twenty-
nine years.^26 During the 1990s, some sixty countries saw their infant
mortality rate drop by at least a third. Inoculation campaigns have
resulted in the almost total eradication of diseases such as smallpox
and polio.^27 Victories have started to be won in the struggle against
AIDS, particularly in Brazil, Uganda, and Thailand. Education is
another area where major advances have been accomplished. Over
the past thirty years, illiteracy throughout the Third World has been
reduced by half.^28 Today, more than 80 percent of children attend
primary school. Whereas there were three times as many post-
secondary students in the North as in the South in 1950, the greatest
(^24) See http://www.nepad.org/2005/files/home.php
(^25) UNDP,Human Development Report 2004: Cultural Liberty in Today’s
Diverse World, New York, Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 142; see also
UNDP,Human Development Report 1992: Global Dimensions of Human
26 Development, New York, Oxford University Press, 1992, p. 14.
Richard Jolly, Louis Emmerij, Dharam Ghai, and Fre ́de ́ric Lapeyre,UN
Contributions to Development Thinking and Practice, Bloomington, Indiana
27 University Press, 2004, p. 252.
Richard Jolly,Global Goals: The UN Experience, New York, UNDP,
Human Development Report Office, 2003 (http://hdr.undp.org/publications/
28 papers.cfm).
World Bank, “World Bank/IMF Report Calls for Urgent Action on Poverty
Reduction by All Countries” (http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/
EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:20194751~ menuPK:34463~pagePK:
64003015~piPK:64003012~ theSitePK: 4607,00.html).
64 Left and Right in Global Politics