Professor Nicolas van de Walle’s talk about the relationships between economic development, democracy, and corruption particularly in African nations was filled with interesting ideas and insights. He discussed how some undemocratic nations have been able to increase developments in infrastructure and their economies. As someone who has very little knowledge of this area of expertise, I previously believed that democracy and economic development, for the most part, went hand in hand. Of course, there have been quite a few exceptions to this in the past, however, this is the main ideology I’ve come to know. Thus, listening to the talk was eye-opening in that I was exposed to more exceptions, making me more curious about the relationships between economic development and democracy throughout history and even now in the present.

Regarding the relationship between corruption and democracy, I found it very interesting when, if I remember correctly, he said that many democratic African governments throughout history have suffered from a good amount of corruption at all levels of government, from local to heads of state. This relationship is also an interesting and complex one to study as there are many factors that can influence how government operates. Because there are always constant societal and cultural changes occurring all over the world at any given moment, the relationships between economic development, democracy, and corruption are also continuously shifting in every single governing body across the world. Therefore, I think these connections are essential to understanding how we can better our governments in the future to increase economic development, democracy, and decrease corruption.