Terje and Arjay rightly stress that many poor countries are very badly governed. I discuss this fact myself, arguing that — contrary to what Terje and Arjay seem to think — it does not relieve us in the affluent countries of responsibility for persisting world poverty (see third to last paragraph in text).

It does not relieve us of responsibility because global institutional arrangements we uphold encourage, stabilize, and aggravate tyrannical rule in many poor countries: Under the existing global rules, any person or group possessing effective power in a country is internationally recognized as entitled to sell the country’s natural resources and to borrow abroad, all in the name of the country’s people. These privileges are granted even to clearly illegitimate regimes — such as the military junta in Myanmar — who came to power by force and continue to rule by force against the clearly expressed will of the overwhelming majority of the population. By being given the privilege to sell the country’s natural resources and to borrow in its name, such rulers can acquire the money they need to pay for weapons and soldiers that help them stay in power. The people under their reign are harmed three times over: The natural resources of their country are lost, a national debt is accumulated, and the power of their oppressive rulers is increased. By what right do we enable tyrants to do this?

A complementary story could be told about how our banks, eagerly and legally, help third-world officials in exporting and hiding funds they embezzle (see Raymond Baker: Capitalism's Achilles Heel, for an insider's account).

You say that poor countries need to take some responsibility themselves. What does this mean? Is it the people's fault that they cannot get rid of their tyrants who buy soldiers and weapons (mostly from the West) with funds we lend them or pay them for the country's resources?

Only if we stop facilitating tyrannical and exploitative rulers will the people in the poor countries have a chance to govern themselves democratically. And then they should indeed take responsibility for their fate.