How European, Asian collective institutions differ from African historical institutions? Samuel Enajite Enajero has the answers

Dr. Samuel Enajite Enajero published “Collective Institutions in Industrialized Nations: Economic Lessons for Sub-Saharan Africa” (Page Publishing; 2015), a book that discusses the role of historical collective institutions in the socio-economic progress of Europe and certain Asian nations (Japan, China, and the Four Asian Tigers). The book also discusses at length the lack of such collective institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa.
 
“Exploring the history of Europe, one would find so many institutions that made the continent very advanced compared to other regions of the world,” wrote Dr. Enajero in his book. “These institutions through evolutionary process became foundations for modern social progress of Europe. They also become the dominant culture for the rest of the world.
 
“Modern societies could look back at so many positive contributions from historical European institutions.”
 
Dr. Enajero discusses the roles and contributions of the ancient city-states, feudalism, mark associations, land enclosures, collective mobilization of labor (particularly the labor regulations to punish indolence), historical European work ethics, social classification, and religion (with which its form and way of worship may also portray socio-economic relationships) in the advancement of collectivism through the ages.
 
City-states, according to Dr. Enajero, were consequences of the early recognition by leaders of the interdependencies of human activities for continued collective survival. The author also looked at feudalism in the historical context. “Feudalism could be regarded by many as exploitative and evil; one can find some socioeconomic benefits as a consequence of this historical arrangement.”
 
Dr. Enajero also acknowledges the Asian historical institutions, particularly that of Japan, China, and the Four Asian Tigers (Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan). In Japan, certain historical institutions helped enforce a sense of collective belonging, such as taxation, high preference for work over leisure, regulated use of time, behavioral restrictions, and a sense of social responsibility. The author also mentions Communist China’s agricultural collectivization, the Four Asian Tigers’ heavy emphasis on human capital, and Asian religions and philosophies, chief of which is Confucianism.
 
As with Sub-Saharan Africa, collectivism is utterly lacking. Dr. Enajero wrote that individuals were not directly or indirectly subjected to any form of economic productivity. Families and landowners were just contented with subsistence production. Human interdependence was not recognized within the African culture. Collectiveness is neither practiced in production nor in religious worship. Taxes were voluntary and institutionalized social obligation was not the norm in Africa.
 
Read more about these matters in Dr. Samuel Enajite Enajero’s “Collective Institutions in Industrialized Nations: Economic Lessons for Sub-Saharan Africa.” Purchase today on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
 
 
 
Collective Institutions in Industrialized Nations: Economic Lessons for Sub-Saharan Africa
Author | Samuel Enajite Enajero, Ph.D.
Published date | November 5, 2015
Publisher | Page Publishing
Book retail price |
 
Author Bio
 
Samuel Enajite Enajero is a researcher, visiting assistant professor and lecturer and academic author with a Ph.D. in Economics.

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