Militarism can be destructive to the state - Maundeni

Presenting a paper on 'Weak Developmental States in Africa' at the just-ended Economic Policy on Africa conference, he said that a state must mobilise its socio-economic resources making sacrifices for the development of the country. Using the example of civil-war Angola, he said that a good part of the country's population and resources were unfortunately controlled by rebels who ran the country into poverty, by using the minerals to purchase weapons of war.

In a developmental state, said the university don, there must be institutions within the state that are focused on developing its people. He warned against the use of the best people in the military as they would dominate the state.