National Development as an Aesthetic Project: A Policy Collection

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National Development as an Aesthetic A Policy Collection , edited by Donald Cassell, is an essential compilation of policy articles, case studies, first-hand accounts, and more regarding the precarious situation in the west African nation of Liberia. Cassell presents more than a decade of research and thought on growth and development. A nation founded on the hope of the western ideas of republican democracy and liberty has fallen victim to the same divisive tribalism and desperate power struggles that have plagued much of post-colonial Africa. While diagnosing the problems of Liberia’s present and looking towards her future, Cassell’s personal experiences and scholarship frame the situation there in the broader context of Liberia’s history and culture. Accordingly, National Development as an Aesthetic Project provides a window into Liberia’s unique and often painful story while offering insight into the ideas, policies, and projects being put into action to set the stage for brighter days.
While the focus of this work is on Africa and Liberia in particular, the universal ideas of developing the capabilities of the people, the necessity of grounded, moral leadership, and the core thought that freedom is always for excellence and virtue should appeal to anyone seeking to understand how communities grow and flourish. Liberia means “freedom” after all and has always been an ideal for everyone to strive for as much as it is a real location. Cassell seeks to give Liberians, international leaders, entrepreneurs, and researchers not only real solutions to pressing problems but also the underlying philosophy necessary to achieve growth and maintain it.
The resulting work is a diverse collection of Cassell’s personal experiences in Liberia, essays on the nature and development of good leadership, and research on targeted solutions to problems in economics, agriculture, education, government, and more. Cassell does not attempt to reinvent the wheel and relies heavily on case studies to thoroughly examine what has worked for other developing nations and what has not. In particular, efforts in Singapore, Rwanda, Kenya, and Brazil provide models to study and sometimes emulate. The topics covered are wide-ranging—economic policy, agriculture, sports, leadership development, education, international partnerships—and draws on the work done by other researchers and thinkers, both by reference and by direct collaboration.
It is a critical time for the world to engage with Liberia and in turn for Liberia to engage with the world. Change is coming faster than ever, and if Liberia can harness those forces of change to create for itself and its people a better and brighter tomorrow, it can serve as a model for the rest of the developing world. By fulfilling the promise inherent in its name, Liberia can become a beacon of freedom through development and good governance. It will be hard work, and the challenges will be great. But, more than anything else, this work stands for the hope that those challenges can and will be overcome and the great virtue of striving, one step at a time, for a better future.
Every Liberian citizen would benefit from access to these ideas because immediate and lasting change must come from within. Liberia is a young nation with a young population; therefore, social and political change to curb corruption and pave a course to a modern Liberia must start with educating the Liberian youth on moral and ethical implications of social and political ends, as well as training in vital skilled trades that have been lost or lacking since the end of the civil wars. Change begins with understanding the “big picture” and exploring the framework and ideas presented in National Development as an Aesthetic Project . The entire world has a stake in nations like Liberia finding political stability and creating lasting wealth.