Idealism and the Developing World

It appears to be impossible to say you want to work in the developing world without sounding like a pathetic follower who wants to "make everyone happy and change an entire country." or someone who simply wishes to "make a difference." As someone who has ambitions to be a development economist I find this incredibly frustrating, someone today commented that it made me "sound like a contestant for Miss World". I see his point but I thought I would post my response here.

Development economics is an area of economics specifically aimed at the developing world. It is one of the two most rapidly evolving areas of economics and is currently considered one of the most helpful. While I agree that the 'developing world' bit can sound like an archetypal wannabe do-gooder's response let me assure you that, in my case this is not true. There is a surfeit of qualified economists working in and for the UK government, NGOs and companies based in the UK. One of the biggest recruiters of development economists in the UK are the FCO. While it is true that "charity begins at home", forging economic links with and strengthening the economy of third world and developing countries are considered both one of the most helpful processes to eliminating poverty and diseases worldwide (including reaching the UN MDGs) and, a way to help retain stability throughout the world. Incidentally, a strong economy and, through that a strong government, is also one of the vital ways the right to freedom of expression can be brought to all countries.

Let me make it clear from here on in, I know what I want to do and how helpful it is in a global setting. The aim and the direction are clear. Right, there's that part over.

When did it become a stigma to want to "make a difference" or, indeed "help people". If you say that in this charming country of ours you tend to be scooted away from or derided as an idealist with no real clue about the world. When did cynicism become the ruling ideal? The majority of politicans, whatever you think about their views, do actually go into a fairly thankless field becuase they want to change something. Sure, deriding politicians is amusing, but can we please not lose sight of their eventual goal. The US doesn't appear to have lost their way as completely as we have, witness the success of 'The West Wing' which was essentially about a group of good guys and their wish to make the world a better place. Even their political oppononants were considered to be at least trying to improve life for everyone. What went wrong over here?

The Young Contrarian