JAMAICA’S continuing relationship with the International Monetary Fund and other multinational agencies has hobbled its attempts to enhance the nation’s social capital. The preoccupation with passing the ever-threatening IMF tests and other conditionalities that loom large like the sword of Damocles over the country’s head has caused the implementation of those policies that can enhance human capital to be either stymied or abandoned. As a result, the historical evidence has indicated over and over again that the medicine (fiscal austerity measures) often kills instead of healing the patient. Jamaica is now in the throes of such a scenario which has already seen increased poverty, personality disorders and the gradual disintegration of social capital.

What is social capital? According to one reliable and respected source, “Social capital refers to the institutions, relationships, and norms that shape the quality and quantity of a society’s social interactions. Increasing evidence shows that social cohesion is critical for societies to prosper economically and for development to be sustainable. Social capital is not just the sum of the institutions which underpin a society — it is the glue that holds them together.”

It is therefore posited that social capital, when enhanced in a positive manner, can improve project effectiveness and sustainability by building the community’s capacity to work together to address their common needs, fostering greater inclusion and cohesion, as well as increasing transparency and accountability.

In another overview, it has been pointed out that social capital is a concept that has significant implications for enhancing the quality, effectiveness and sustainability of World Bank operations, particularly those that are based on community action. The most serious problem facing Jamaica today is the inherent inequality that exists in the wider society. Add government’s iniquitous policies and programmes to this mix and what we get is a most volatile situation in which there is a sense of hopelessness and alienation. The tribal politics that is practised helps only to exacerbate further this vexing situation whereby everything is seen in orange and green terms, outside of any appreciation for logical reasoning or what is in the best interest of the public.

In this context, the two major political parties, namely the Jamaica Labour Party and the People’s National Party vie for the acquisition of power, and whichever one wins sets about to rule the people with arrogance and a non-caring attitude rather than governing with compassion and common sense in an equitable manner. Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller’s criticism of the Bruce Golding administration’s latest budget, as having no heart and soul as well as ignoring the harsh realities people are facing as a result of the stringent measures the Finance Ministry has had to put in place to stabilise the economy, is spot on with respect to how social capital fits into development.

Of course, it must be stressed that if the previous government under Michael Manley, PJ Patterson and Portia Simpson Miller had paid enough attention to the pivotal role that social capital must play if there is to be meaningful and lasting development, we would not be in our current pickle. Of all our modern-day politicians, it is Edward Seaga who has shown the greatest level of understanding with respect to the enhancement of social capital. The focus he placed on the Jamaica Festival, HEART and Character Education as well as his many social interventions in his West Kingston constituency (if one can safely extrapolate the poison of partisan politics) are examples of his understanding of the need to put the people at the centre of any development mode.

Norman Manley also displayed a tremendous understanding of the need to develop and sustain social capital by the founding of the Jamaica Welfare Movement which would later segue into the Social Development Commission which for decades provided the platform for community development. But, alas, today the SDC is but a shadow of itself and the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission and its parish affiliates are being primarily used to create “feel-good” moments rather than zeroing in on using culture as a means of nation building and economic prosperity.

Francis Fukuyama in the article, “Social Capital and Development: The Coming Agenda”, observes that “A major rethinking of the problem of development took place during the latter part of the 1990s, including a new appreciation for the importance of incorporating cultural factors into economic growth and development models. Social capital, after all, is simply a means of understanding the role that values and norms play in economic life.”

PJ Patterson tried with a Values and Attitudes campaign that fizzled because of widespread cynicism. The Dudus/Manatt affair has rendered Prime Minister Bruce Golding a most devastating credibility deficit which makes it virtually impossible for him to lead any such campaign. Governor General Sir Patrick Allen in tandem with civil society, inclusive of civic groups and educational institutions, must tackle this important task of fashioning a Jamaican society that will engender growth and prosperity within the framework of a level playing field and true respect for all.

In balancing the books, governments can be seen as callous and aloof, if in doing so it ignores the social capital. Seaga faced such a challenge in the 1980s although he opined that it took cash to care. And as a result, his popularity soon plummeted. Audley Shaw and the Golding team now face a similar fate. It is the extent to which Mr. Golding can address this issue in his Budget presentation that will determine where Jamaica goes from here on — up to the pinnacle of peace and prosperity or down into the precipice of persistent poverty.

lloydbsmith@hotmail.com