An outsider’s view of Seychelles written a few years back by Louis de Lamare:

The Seychelles and Globalisation

Some twenty three years after my first visit to the Seychelles, I was surprised to see that not much had changed. While you might say that is not a good sign and that there has not much progress in the Seychelles, the question rises as what is meant by progress and modernity if it is not value loaded. But value and perception are all subjective as it all depends from where one stands and what sort of arguments one would bring in to make an analysis. In the academic world there is continuous debate about what constitutes modernism or globalization as different schools of thoughts emerge to enrich the debate or help formulating a judgment and make critical appraisal of any given situation.

When I say that the Seychelles has not changed much, what I saw was an island which is still ecologically sustainable, where all the beaches have not been invaded by hotels, and the general public still have full access of their sand and sea, where the trees/forests have not been destroyed to be replaced by residential settlements or again that the capital Victoria has not seen the popping up of high rise buildings/offices, or sky scrappers, there is no big business parks or shopping centres. In a way it could be said that the topography of the Seychelles has not been too much spoilt (defigure) by the wave of modern trends.

Coming now to the social side, it was noted that Seychellois are still very welcoming, generous, honest and law abiding and at the same time like to party. They are still very much humble and entrenched in their Creole culture and have conserved their traditions and values. Generally speaking, they live very simply and not influenced by sophisticated life trends and are not engaged in a competitive lifestyle, to be like the Jones as in Mauritius and other pacific islands which have joined the society of consumerism. The Seychellois, do not pretend to live beyond his means and try hard to improve his lot. We rented a house during our stay in the Seychelles and my American friends were amazed that we could sleep with all doors and windows open or again that we could leave the house during the day without lock and key.

The assessment above while it tends to give a general picture, it does not imply that all is well and good in paradise and for sure crimes, drugs, aids and prostitution has all found their way in the islands and if not contained with the appropriate measures could easily proliferate. While there is growing structural unemployment, the lack of earning is compensated by the “debrouillardise” of the islanders and as my host explained, “Seychelles is still the land of plenty where our sea still feeds us.”

While the globalists claim that the world is now culturally and economically integrated, that Globalisation is irreversible or again that those who choose to go against or ignore it are missing out, the sceptics respond that there is nothing new about it. For the latter, it happened before during the colonization era when Europe was conquering the world, imposing their economic and cultural dicta to the extent that Britain was the hegemony “Britannia ruled the world”. The city of London has for long been the financial centre of the world even after Breton Woods. The post WWII saw the emergence of a new hegemony, the USA and the rise and strengthening of the liberal ideology which finally ended the cold war in the late nineties and eventually dynamise the globalization era.

A Unique Party system without democracy!

The Seychelles has, after the coup d’etat, been for a long time under a Unique Party system without democracy with a leftist regime not to say a communist one. This was not strange as the Seychelles followed the example of many African countries who embraced such an ideology and style of government to consolidate their sovereignty after obtaining independence. Many of the third world countries who went down that path have surely not done well economically as opposed to those who opted for an open and democratic rule. And this is probably why many African countries are still in the dark (sans jeu de mot) today, as well as Madagascar, Haiti and other West Indies islands.

Such a system breeds corruption and nepotism and suffocate the economy. It also keeps investors away…So finally under immense pressure from donor countries and from the West, the Seychelles under the Third Republic became a democratic, multiparty with a bicameral system of government. If the president is voted by universal suffrage, the ministers are not elected and do not sit in the legislative assembly as they are nominated by the President. They only come to parliament to answer questions from the MLAs. Some of us would rejoice to know that all debates and questions are held in the Creole language and broadcast directly via the radio. Ministers have no say or do not take part in parliamentary debate on a bill or any matters of national interest.

With such a political background one can easily understand why the Seychelles is trying hard to resist globalization. There is no McDonald or Kentucky or Pizza Hut, there is no Wall-Mart, Woollies or Score, there is no presence of big corporation like Microsoft, City Bank or Coca-Cola, etc…not even signs of billboard advertising of these big American products. There is a deliberate action to prevent the invasion of the West and so no FID or Portfolio Investment and offshore banking. The economy is rather domestically oriented but there is a big current account deficit which has probably explains why there is no reserve of foreign currency.

The Seychelles exports are mainly primary products limited to fish and some minor agricultural products. The main source of foreign currency is tourism although the Seychelles is not a cheap holiday destination and the Seychellois rupees remain a very strong and expensive currency. The rational of keeping it so high is more to limit imports although most of the goods consumed are imported. There is no industrial zone and no signs of an export oriented policy. The Seychelles seems to be adopting the comparative or absolute advantage that nature offers them i.e. the good weather, the most beautiful beaches and the always warm sea. However it is somehow dangerous to rely on the tourist and hospitality industry which is not only seasonal but volatile. September 11, the Asian Tsunami, the oncoming bird flu and the rising price of petrol are more threats than opportunities.

The fear of loosing control!

While the Seychelles seems to be winning the battle against cultural globalization by promoting the Creole culture, it seems to be loosing the battle against economic globalization. The economy of the Seychelles can only be invigorated by foreign investment and by opening up their economy which will bring an injection of capital and create jobs to avoid social explosion. There have lately been some moves in that direction with investments in hotels but this political decision is still shy and hesitant; the fear of loosing control to big corporations seems to be more of an obsession by a government which still betrays signs of willingness to stay on the left. President Michel and his government should realize that the left is an ideology of the past, it is no more relevant, Communism fails, socialism fails, the soviet block collapsed and all the eastern block countries are now liberal democracies joining the EEC and practicing the market economy. Even the purest of the communist regime, China has not only joined the WTO, open up its borders for foreign investment and big capital but is enjoying, what Pr Linda Weiss calls “the enabling face of Globalisation”. Travelling down the path of international economic openness does not necessarily mean giving up the sovereignty or the retreat/demise of the state at the expense of policies of competitive liberalism. Globalisation can certainly help to shed some light on the national governance issues, to valorise business access to national innovation structures, to a constant supply of skilled labour and to various other infrastructural resources that firms depend on.

Seychelles can no longer afford to stay in the dark!

Globalisation has enabling rather than constraining effects on national government by way of competitive challenges to urge government to devise new policy responses, new regulatory regimes and similar restructuring reforms. Globalisation also contributes to the expansion of governing capacities through both the transformation of public-private sector relations and the growth of policy networks. Globalisation does not constrain but also enables economic governance. It also provides states more room to manoeuvre in the global political economy.

The Seychelles can longer afford to stay in the dark or to lag behind in technology as I noticed during my stay over there. Global communication seems to be still a luxury, and even the teacher who lives next door told me she cannot afford a computer and the internet et pourtant… the desire to open up, to communicate is there as one out of five Seychellois has a mobile phone.

Louis de Lamar