As I read the post I was reminded of a podcast I recently listened to from This American Life (http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/408/island-time), the NPR show with Ira Glass. It seemed that the point of the show and the point you are making are very similar.

While I believe you are correct that a combination of accountable aid, sustainable trade, and efficient, transparent government is a workable solution for poverty around the world, I am most concerned about the third item — efficient, transparent government.

As I read the post, I wondered “how?” Accountable aid seems reasonable from the stand point of many NGOs and other charitable organizations (at least ones who truly live their mission) and sustainable trade, from an almost purely capitalistic sense, seems relatively straightforward as well. But efficiency and transparency in government are the ones I worry about. You seem to point to open communication (through “ubiquitous broadband” and “citizen blogger[s]“) via new technologies as the force that will create more efficiency and transparency in government, as well as in business. I am optimistic that in the long-term this is what will happen, but it seems that so far these technologies have been used to create a partisan “echo chamber”. Sure, they allow the government to be more transparent and more efficient, but I think they also need to lead to more open, collaborative discussions – which I don’t see happening (yet).

I’m curious what you think. How will these new technologies unfold in such a way to allow government to react not only more openly, but allow its citizenry to become more collaborative and open to others with differing ideas?

Thanks for the great post and I look forward to reading some others on your site.