Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 70

Supporting Inclusive Growth and

Sustainable Development in Africa -


Volume II: Transforming Infrastructure
Development 1st Edition Elena G.
Popkova
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://ebookmass.com/product/supporting-inclusive-growth-and-sustainable-develop
ment-in-africa-volume-ii-transforming-infrastructure-development-1st-edition-elena-g-
popkova/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Supporting Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development


in Africa - Volume 1: Sustainability in Infrastructure
Development Elena G. Popkova

https://ebookmass.com/product/supporting-inclusive-growth-and-
sustainable-development-in-africa-volume-1-sustainability-in-
infrastructure-development-elena-g-popkova/

Women and Sustainable Human Development: Empowering


Women in Africa 1st ed. Edition Maty Konte

https://ebookmass.com/product/women-and-sustainable-human-
development-empowering-women-in-africa-1st-ed-edition-maty-konte/

Doing Business in Africa: From Economic Growth to


Societal Development 1st ed. Edition Suzanne M. Apitsa

https://ebookmass.com/product/doing-business-in-africa-from-
economic-growth-to-societal-development-1st-ed-edition-suzanne-m-
apitsa/

Doing Business in Africa: From Economic Growth to


Societal Development Suzanne M. Apitsa

https://ebookmass.com/product/doing-business-in-africa-from-
economic-growth-to-societal-development-suzanne-m-apitsa/
Economic Growth and Development: Chinese Agribusiness
Enterprises Development 1st ed. Edition Lei Sun

https://ebookmass.com/product/economic-growth-and-development-
chinese-agribusiness-enterprises-development-1st-ed-edition-lei-
sun/

Sustainable Production System: Eco-development versus


Sustainable Development Clément Morlat

https://ebookmass.com/product/sustainable-production-system-eco-
development-versus-sustainable-development-clement-morlat/

Religion, Women’s Health Rights, and Sustainable


Development in Zimbabwe: Volume 1 Sophia Chirongoma

https://ebookmass.com/product/religion-womens-health-rights-and-
sustainable-development-in-zimbabwe-volume-1-sophia-chirongoma/

Growth and Development Planning in India K. L. Datta

https://ebookmass.com/product/growth-and-development-planning-in-
india-k-l-datta/

Neurocognitive Development: Normative Development, 173


Anne Gallagher

https://ebookmass.com/product/neurocognitive-development-
normative-development-173-anne-gallagher/
Edited by
Elena G. Popkova · Bruno S. Sergi · Lubinda Haabazoka
Julia V. Ragulina

Supporting Inclusive
Growth and Sustainable
Development in
Africa - Volume II
Transforming Infrastructure
Development
Supporting Inclusive Growth and Sustainable
Development in Africa - Volume II
Elena G. Popkova • Bruno S. Sergi
Lubinda Haabazoka • Julia V. Ragulina
Editors

Supporting Inclusive
Growth and
Sustainable
Development in
Africa - Volume II
Transforming Infrastructure
Development
Editors
Elena G. Popkova Bruno S. Sergi
Moscow State Institute of International Harvard University
Relations (MGIMO) Cambridge, MA, USA
Moscow, Russia
University of Messina
Lubinda Haabazoka Messina, Italy
Graduate School of Business
University of Zambia Julia V. Ragulina
Lusaka, Zambia Chair of Compliance and Controlling
RUDN University
Moscow, Russia

ISBN 978-3-030-41982-0    ISBN 978-3-030-41983-7 (eBook)


https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41983-7

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2020
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of
illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and trans-
mission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or
dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or
the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any
errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional
claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Contents

Part I Transforming Infrastructure Development   1

1 Corporate Governance in South Africa: A Comparative


Aspect  3
Alla S. Laletina and Igor A. Kosyakin

2 Hi-Tech Development of Modern Africa: Opportunities


and Barriers 15
Bruno S. Sergi and Elena G. Popkova

3 Information Society, Telecommunication Infrastructure,


and Digital Entrepreneurship in Modern Africa 25
Elena G. Popkova and Julia V. Ragulina

4 The Impact of Obsolescence on Public-­Private


Partnership Projects in South Africa 37
Brighton Mukuvari and Nthatisi Khatleli

v
vi Contents

5 The Strategic Benefits of Innovation Adoption in


Construction Consultancy Firms: The Role of Quantity
Surveyors 49
De-Graft Owusu-Manu, Frank Ato Ghansah, Frank Boateng,
George Asumadu, and David John Edwards

6 Factors Affecting Effective Infrastructure Service Delivery


in Zambia’s Local Authorities: A Case of Eastern Province 65
Moffat Tembo, Erastus M. Mwanaumo, Sampa Chisumbe,
and Ayodeji Olatunji Aiyetan

7 Adoption Level of FAO’s Valuation Guidelines in Nigeria 83


Israel Okechukwu Ogbonna and Godfrey Okon Udo

8 An Empirical Analysis of Transportation Infrastructure


Feasibility Study Considerations 93
Chioma Sylvia Okoro, Innocent Musonda,
and Justus Ngala Agumba

9 Smart Tourism for Enhancing Tourism Experience:


Prospects and Challenges for Africa105
Randhir Roopchund

Part II Inclusive Economic Growth 123

10 Women’s Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Livelihoods


in Lusaka Urban125
Atangambuyu Silungwe and Wilson Silungwe

11 African Union Outer Space Program: Chances and


Challenges145
Yao Nikez Adu, Fridon Ananidze, and Svetlana Adu
Contents vii

12 The Malabo Protocol on African Criminal Court:


Challenges and Perspectives159
Jean Baptiste Bukuru, Aleksandra E. Koneva,
and Andrey M. Nikolaev

13 Integration in Africa: International Legal Competence


of the East African Community in the Economic, Social,
and Cultural Sphere169
L. N. Njenga

Part III Economic Diversification and Integration 183

14 Framework for Attracting Traffic Back to the Railways in


Zambia185
Fred Mwila and Erastus M. Mwanaumo

15 Planning and Designing Standard of Rural Road


Construction in Lusaka Province: An Exploratory Study203
Ephraim Sakala, Erastus M. Mwanaumo,
and Sampa Chisumbe

16 International Listed Real Estate Market Portfolio


Diversification in BRICS221
Rofhiwa Tshivhase and Marno Booyens

17 Migration Trends in Sub-Saharan Africa-­Domestic and


International Socio-­Politico-­Economic Repercussions:
Implications for Zambia239
Kwesi Atta Sakyi

18 Scenario of Modern Africa’s Development Until 2030


with Preservation of the Pre-Digital Technological Mode263
Bruno S. Sergi and Elena G. Popkova
viii Contents

19 Africa 4.0 as a Perspective Scenario for Neo-


Industrialization in the Twenty-­First Century: Global
Competitiveness and Sustainable Development275
Elena G. Popkova, Lubinda Haabazoka, and Julia V. Ragulina

20 Africa 4.0 as the Optimal Model of Development


of the African Region of the Global Economic
System Until 2030301
Elena G. Popkova

21 Future Perspectives of Inclusive Growth of the African


Economy313
Elena G. Popkova, Bruno S. Sergi, Lubinda Haabazoka, and
Julia V. Ragulina

Index315
Notes on Contributors

Svetlana Adu is a faculty member of RUDN University, Russia.


Yao Nikez Adu is a faculty member of RUDN University, Russia.
Justus Ngala Agumba is Senior Lecturer of Building Sciences, Tshwane
University of Technology, South Africa.
Ayodeji Olatunji Aiyetan is Senior Lecturer of Construction
Management and Quantity Surveying at the Durban University of
Technology, South Africa.
Fridon Ananidze is a faculty member of RUDN University, Russia.
George Asumadu is Lecturer of Business, Kumasi Technical
University, Ghana.
Frank Boateng is Lecturer in the School of Business and Management
Studies, University of Mines and Technology, Ghana.
Marno Booyens is Lecturer of Finance and Investment Management,
University of Johannesburg, South Africa.
Jean Baptiste Bukuru is a faculty member of RUDN University, Russia.
Sampa Chisumbe holds a MEng from the School of Engineering at the
University of Zambia and is currently a doctoral candidate at the
University of Johannesburg, South Africa.
ix
x Notes on Contributors

David John Edwards is Lecturer of Technology Environment and


Engineering, Birmingham City University, UK.
Frank Ato Ghansah is a student in the Department of Construction
Technology and Management, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science
and Technology, Ghana.
Lubinda Haabazoka is a professor at the University of Zambia, Zambia.
Nthatisi Khatleli is a faculty member of the School of Construction
Economics and Management, University of the Witwatersrand,
South Africa.
Aleksandra E. Koneva is a faculty member of RUDN University, Russia.
Igor A. Kosyakin is a member of JSC Concern Sozvezdie, Russia.
Alla S. Laletina is a faculty member of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
Institute of State and Law, Russia.
Brighton Mukuvari is a faculty member of the School of Construction
Economics and Management, University of the Witwatersrand,
South Africa.
Innocent Musonda is Associate Professor of Construction Management
and Quantity Surveying, University of Johannesburg, South Africa.
Erastus M. Mwanaumo is Assistant Dean of the School of Engineering,
University of Zambia, Zambia.
Fred Mwila is a postgraduate student in the Department of Civil and
Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, University of
Zambia, Zambia.
Andrey M. Nikolaev is a faculty member of RUDN University, Russia.
L. N. Njenga is a faculty member of RUDN University, Russia.
Israel Okechukwu Ogbonna is a faculty member of the Department of
Estate Management, University of Uyo, Nigeria.
Chioma Sylvia Okoro is Lecturer of Finance and Investment
Management, University of Johannesburg, South Africa.
Notes on Contributors xi

De-Graft Owusu-Manu is Lecturer of Construction Technology and


Management, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and
Technology, Ghana.
Elena G. Popkova is a professor at Moscow State Institute of
International Relations, Russia.
Julia V. Ragulina is Head of the Chair of Compliance and Controlling
at RUDN University, Russia.
Randhir Roopchund is a Dean-Faculty of Business and Management
& Senior Lecturer in Université des Mascareignes, Port Louis, Mauritius.
Ephraim Sakala is a faculty member of the School of Engineering at the
University of Zambia, Zambia.
Kwesi Atta Sakyi is Head of Research, ZCAS University, Zambia.
Bruno S. Sergi is an instructor on the Economics of Emerging Markets
and the Political Economy of Russia and China at Harvard University
and an Associate of the Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian
Studies and the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. He teaches
Political Economy and International Finance at the University of
Messina, Italy.
Atangambuyu Silungwe is Director of Rusangu University, Zambia.
Wilson Silungwe is Director of the Zambia Institute for Tourism and
Hospitality Studies, Zambia.
Moffat Tembo is a student in the Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering, University of Zambia, Zambia.
Rofhiwa Tshivhase is Valuer, Property Unit, South Africa.
Godfrey Okon Udo is a faculty member of the Department of Estate
Management, University of Uyo, Nigeria.
List of Figures

Fig. 2.1 Coefficients of determination (R2) of influence of the factors


on the results of hi-tech development in countries of Africa
in 2018. (Source: Calculated and compiled by the authors) 19
Fig. 3.1 The current level of development and significance of the
blocks of Zambia’s readiness for digital modernization of
economy and transition to Industry 4.0. (Source: Calculated
and compiled by the authors) 33
Fig. 4.1 Facility/Equipment performance during economic lifespan.
(Source: Iselin and Lemer (1993)) 39
Fig. 4.2 A typical deterioration curve. (Source: Iselin and Lemer
(1993))42
Fig. 6.1 Extent of design changes between design reports and actual
execution projects. (Source: Made by the authors) 72
Fig. 6.2 Proposed relationships that exist in the developed service
delivery framework. (Source: Made by the authors) 76
Fig. 14.1 Zambian railway network. (Source: Adapted from ZRL
(2014))188
Fig. 14.2 General perception of the railways in Zambia. (Source: Made
by the authors) 193
Fig. 14.3 Framework for attracting bulk and heavy cargo to the rail.
(Source: Made by the authors) 198
Fig. 17.1 Push factors. (Source: Made by the authors) 248

xiii
xiv List of Figures

Fig. 17.2 Pull factors. (Source: Made by the authors) 249


Fig. 18.1 Regression curves. (Source: calculated by the authors) 268
Fig. 19.1 Dynamics of the average growth rate of GDP at constant
prices in African countries in 2000–2022, %. (Source:
calculated and compiled by the authors based on
International Monetary Fund (2019)) 284
Fig. 19.2 Dynamics of average GDP per capita in African countries in
2000–2022, USD. (Source: calculated and compiled by the
authors based on International Monetary Fund (2019)) 284
Fig. 19.3 Dynamics of average aggregate volume of investments into
economies of African countries in 2000–2022, % of
GDP. (Source: calculated and compiled by the authors based
on International Monetary Fund (2019)) 285
Fig. 19.4 Average sectorial structure of gross added value that was
created in African countries in 2018. (Source: calculated and
compiled by the authors based on World Bank (2019)) 285
Fig. 19.5 Ratio of average values of the indicators of socio-economic
development of African countries in 2018 to average values
of the indicators of developed countries (OECD). (Source:
calculated and compiled by the authors based on
International Institute for Sustainable Development (2019),
International Monetary Fund (2019), WIPO (2019), World
Bank (2019), World Economic Forum (2019)) 286
Fig. 19.6 Regression curves that reflect dependence of the statistical
indicators on the level of innovative development of African
countries in 2018. (Source: calculated and compiled by the
authors)291
Fig. 19.7 The conceptual model of Africa 4.0. (Source: compiled by
the authors) 294
Fig. 19.8 Algorithm of neo-industrialization of African countries based
on breakthrough technologies of Industry 4.0. (Source:
compiled by the authors) 295
Fig. 20.1 Regression curves. (Source: calculated and compiled by the
authors)306
Fig. 20.2 Change of the underrun of African countries from the leader
during various models of innovative development in 2030.
(Source: calculated and compiled by the authors) 308
List of Tables

Table 2.1 Factors and results of hi-tech development of African


countries in 2018 18
Table 2.2 SWOT analysis of hi-tech development of countries
of Africa 20
Table 3.1 Statistics and analysis of information society,
telecommunication infrastructure, and digital
entrepreneurship in Zambia and South Africa in 2018 29
Table 3.2 Factor analysis of the readiness of South Africa for digital
modernization of economy and transition to Industry 4.0 32
Table 5.1 Benefits of innovation adoption 54
Table 5.2 Background analysis of respondents 56
Table 5.3 Benefits of innovation adoption using the mean score
ranking57
Table 5.4 Test of Concordance using Kendall’s coefficient of
concordance60
Table 6.1 Projects being undertaken in Eastern Province 69
Table 6.2 Councils capacity to technically review project documents 71
Table 6.3 Problems faced by councils in the provision of services 73
Table 6.4 Major community needs by district 74
Table 7.1 Data Units and their bases of measurement: To examine
the extent to which VGRGTLFF practices are observed in
Nigerian environmental valuation practice 86
Table 7.2 One-sample t-test 90

xv
xvi List of Tables

Table 8.1 Internal consistency reliability results 96


Table 8.2 Findings on planning data used 97
Table 8.3 Findings on feasibility criteria factors 99
Table 8.4 Findings on investment appraisal methods used 100
Table 9.1 Applications of Smart Tourism 111
Table 15.1 Transmitter road dimension test (rural road dimension
test using the tape) 209
Table 15.2 Transmitter road profile test (rural road dimension
test using the line level) 209
Table 15.3 Transmitter road condition inventory check list 210
Table 15.4 China-Zambia road dimension test 210
Table 15.5 China-Zambia road profile test 211
Table 15.6 China-Zambia road condition inventory check list 211
Table 15.7 Kapepe-Nyendwa road dimension test 212
Table 15.8 Kapepe-Nyendwa road profile test 212
Table 15.9 Kapepe-Nyendwa road condition inventory check list 212
Table 15.10 Evergreen-Nyendwa road dimension test – width of
carriage and side drains 213
Table 15.11 Evergreen-Nyendwa road dimension test – camber and
longitudinal profile 213
Table 15.12 Evergreen-Nyendwa road condition inventory check list 214
Table 15.13 Mpandika’s Palace road dimension test 214
Table 15.14 Mpandika’s Palace road profile test 215
Table 15.15 Mpandika’s Palace road condition inventory check list 215
Table 15.16 Spin-along road dimension test 216
Table 15.17 Spin-along road profile test 216
Table 15.18 Spin-along road condition inventory check list 216
Table 16.1 Johansen co-integration test (trace test) 229
Table 16.2 Johansen co-integration test (maximum eigenvalue test) 230
Table 16.3 Vector error correction estimates 231
Table 16.4 VEC block exogeneity Wald test 232
Table 17.1 Population of African migrants in the world (millions).
(Source: Adapted from UNECA) 247
Table 17.2 Causes of youth migration in Zambia 250
Table 17.3 Trends and patterns of migration-generic analysis 251
Table 17.4 City populations in Zambia (2015) 253
Table 17.5 Population of Zambia by province (2015) 253
Table 17.6 Motives for migration 257
Table 17.7 Net migration rate change (% in Zambia) 257
List of Tables xvii

Table 18.1 Initial data for the selection of African countries 267
Table 18.2 Scenario analysis of development of modern Africa
until 2030 with preservation of the pre-digital
technological mode 268
Table 19.1 Indicators of socio-economic development of African
countries in 2018 279
Table 19.2 Sectorial structure gross added value that was created in
African countries in 2018, % 282
Table 19.3 Autocorrelation of the indicators of socio-economic
development of African countries in 2018 287
Table 19.4 Regression and dispersion analysis of dependence of
global competitiveness of African countries on their
innovative activity in 2018 288
Table 19.5 Volume of hi-tech export in African countries in 2018 289
Table 19.6 Regression and dispersion analysis of dependence of
innovative activity of African countries on the volume of
their hi-tech export in 2018 290
Table 19.7 Characteristics of the alternative scenarios of African
countries’ participation in the fourth industrial revolution
until 2030 293
Table 20.1 Selection of data 305
Table 20.2 Models of innovative development of the African region
of the global economic system until 2030 307
Introduction

The global goals in the sphere of sustainable development, adopted in


2015 by the international community under the guidance of the UN,
which are officially known as “Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development”, are officially supported by all countries of
the world, but are implemented with the help of different approaches.
Sustainable development goals are oriented at solving the current prob-
lems of modern society, law, and economy. These problems are universal
and peculiar for all countries of the world, but they are more vivid in
developing countries, which bear the main costs of economic growth of
the global economic system.
The global goals in the sphere of sustainable development include the
goals of increasing the population’s quality of life (liquidation of pov-
erty and famine, development of healthcare, and increase of accessibil-
ity of clean water); the goals of provision of social justice (the guarantee
of gender equality, the creation of an inclusive society, the creation of
effective normative and legal institutes, and the development of jus-
tice); the goals of the development of human potential (wide accessibil-
ity to high-quality education, the provision of decent work and
opportunities for career growth for economically active population);
the goals of environment protection (the creation of circular cities and
communities, responsible consumption and production, fighting

xix
xx Introduction

climate changes, and preservation of sea and land eco-systems); and the
goals of industrialization, innovative development, and international
integration for sustainable development.
These problems are very urgent in the countries of modern Africa, and
their solutions are complicated due to the deficit of the infrastructural
provision of sustainable development. Infrastructure is to become a guar-
antee of the future society-oriented and innovations-oriented economic
growth of the countries of modern Africa. This book presents a view into
the future of Africa. Scientific methodology is used for determining and
substantiating the perspective directions of Africa’s development during
realization of the sustainable development goals. Infrastructural barriers
on the path of practical realization of these barriers are determined, and
complex recommendations for overcoming these barriers and achieving
the sustainable development goals in modern Africa are offered.
The book consists of two parts. The first part is devoted to scientific
substantiation of the current contribution of infrastructure into the pro-
vision of sustainable development in countries of Africa and the develop-
ment of the concepts of maximization of this contribution based on
improvement of the infrastructure, its modernization, expansion, and
increase of accessibility. The second part considers the current infrastruc-
tural projects and determines their advantages for sustainable develop-
ment of society and economy in Africa. The authors reflect and systematize
the modern experience of infrastructure’s development on various territo-
ries of the African region of the global economic system, due to which the
book is oriented toward a the very wide target audience, which includes
representatives of the international academic community, who study the
process of realization of the global goals in sustainable development, sus-
tainable development of emerging markets, economic growth, social
progress, innovative development, and infrastructural provision of
African countries.
The book’s target audience also includes representatives of state reg-
ulation of the African economy, which are ready to start new infra-
structural projects in their countries, representatives of African
business, international investors who are interested in participation in
Introduction xxi

modern Africa’s infrastructural projects, and people who are interested


in the future perspectives of Africa’s sustainable development. This
book contains the leading studies that reflect the results of the latest
scientific works on the topic of infrastructural provision of modern
Africa’s sustainable development.

Moscow, Russia Elena G. Popkova


Bruno
Cambridge, MA, USA S. Sergi
Messina, Italy
Lusaka, ZambiaLubinda Haabazoka
Moscow, Russia Julia V. Ragulina
Part I
Transforming Infrastructure
Development
1
Corporate Governance in South Africa:
A Comparative Aspect
Alla S. Laletina and Igor A. Kosyakin

1 Introduction
The Republic of South Africa (South Africa) is of particular interest for
research through the prism of the Russian experience. The country is a
member of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa)—the
organization of the largest developing countries, leaders in their regions.
South Africa, like Russia, in the early 1990s underwent a transit of the
political system and during the 1990s significantly transformed its eco-
nomic model towards greater inclusivity. The creative evolution of the
Anglo-Saxon legal system and corporate governance model among
BRICS members can be very well traced on the example of South Africa.

A. S. Laletina (*)
Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of State and Law, Moscow, Russia
e-mail: spp@igpran.ru
I. A. Kosyakin
JSC “Concern ‘Sozvezdie’”, Voronezh, Russia

© The Author(s) 2020 3


E. G. Popkova et al. (eds.), Supporting Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development in
Africa - Volume II, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41983-7_1
4 A. S. Laletina and I. A. Kosyakin

2 Materials
The theoretical framework to solve the above problems has been provided
by works of foreign (J.J. du Plessis, R. Croucher, L. Miles, V. Padayachee,
C.W.J.C. Swart, etc.) and Russian (A.G. Dementyeva, A.V. Gabov,
V.K. Verbicky, etc.) scholars who have studied the theory of corporate
governance in South Africa and Russia, its organizational foundations,
corporate governance best practices and their significance in the legal
system from the standpoint of both economic and legal sciences.
The empirical framework has been provided by the legal acts of South
Africa, the Russian Federation, and some other countries, as well as
sources of best practices of corporate governance (in particular—King’s
Kommitee’s reports, Russian Corporate Governance Code, and listing
rules of Johannesburg Stock Exchange).

3 Methodology
The research is based on the universal dialectical-materialistic method,
general scientific methods (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction,
modeling) and particular scientific methods (comparative-legal,
historical-­legal, legal forecasting), the combined use of which allows a
comprehensive study of the most important aspects of corporate gover-
nance in South Africa.

4 Results
4.1 Legal Regulation

The basic act regulating the activities of South African corporations is


Companies Act 2008, which came into force on 1 May 2011 (such a long
period of implementation, in the authors’ opinion, has to do with the fate
of close corporations, which numbered more than 2 million; since the
entry into force of Companies Act 2008, they are not registered). In this,
regulation is similar to the British one: all types of companies are
1 Corporate Governance in South Africa: A Comparative Aspect 5

considered under one law. In addition, the literature notes that the con-
cept of the law was significantly influenced by the New Zealand
Companies Act 1993 (du Plessis 2009, 274–275).
However, according to the authors, Companies Act 2008 has an origi-
nal character: its institutions are generated by the specific historical and
economic situation in South Africa.
The act itself contains cases of by-law regulation, which is the respon-
sibility of the member of the Cabinet of South Africa (Minister of
Finance), in charge of company oversight. Regulations can be adopted on
a variety of topics: from the issue of shares to the internal structure of a
Corporation.
In comparison, in the Russian Federation, regulation of financial mar-
kets is the responsibility of the Bank of Russia (in particular, it approved
additional requirements for the preparation, convening and holding of
general meetings of shareholders and standards for the issue of securities).
However, a number of acts were adopted by the Government of the
Russian Federation, a body of general competence.
The reform of corporate law has been discussed for a long time: in
1993, the Corporate Governance Committee was formed, headed by a
retired judge of the Supreme Court of South Africa, Mervyn E. King.
Gradually, at the state level, the need to design a new system of corporate
governance began to be realized (South African Company Law for the
Twenty-first Century). The King Committee issued four reports: before
the adoption of Companies Act 2008 in 1994 and 2002, and after in
2010 and 2016 (similar national corporate governance reports have
begun to appear in different countries: the best known is the report of the
British Committee on the financial aspects of corporate governance
(Cadbury Committee) in 1992). In fact, the King Committee’s reports
are collectively the national code of corporate governance.
The introduction of best corporate governance practices is a mandatory
requirement for issuers on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Generally,
these rules relate to the internal structure of the Corporation (the presence
of a corporate secretary, committees of the board, financial director) and
the adoption of a number of acts (remuneration policy, report on the
implementation of corporate governance practices). The listing rules also
reflect the national specificities of South Africa: the need to maintain gen-
der and racial diversity on the board of directors is emphasized.
6 A. S. Laletina and I. A. Kosyakin

One of the main markers of the evolution of the corporate governance


architecture in South Africa, which should be mentioned now, is a depar-
ture from the principle of “acting in the interests of the company as a
whole and maximizing profits”—still common in Russian legislation and
dominating in Russian judicial practice—to the principle of taking into
account the interest of all stakeholders—including at the level of legisla-
tion (Croucher, Miles 2010, 369–370).
Thus, there is a typical Anglo-Saxon regulatory system: a single law
and complementary best practices of corporate governance (reports of
the King Committee and listing rules). In Russia, on the other hand, the
basics of the legal status of joint-stock companies alone are regulated by
two (the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and the law on a specific
type of legal entity), and of state corporations and some other non-profit
organizations—by three legislative acts (the Civil Code of the Russian
Federation, the law on non-profit organizations and the law on a specific
type of legal entity). The separate law is devoted to insolvency. Russian
corporate governance practices are more formalized (the Bank of Russia
adopted the Corporate Governance Code of 2014, approved by the
Government of the Russian Federation). However, only public compa-
nies, which are forced to comply with the listing rules, attach importance
to these practices, comparable to legislative norms.
Judicial practice plays a crucial role in the South African legal system.
For example, the law does not resolve the issue of representation on behalf
of the company’s directors. The rule that an individual director must be
specially authorized for representation by the decision of the board or the
Memorandum of Incorporation of the company, was arrived in: One
Stop Financial Services (Pty) Ltd v Neffensaan Ontwikkelings (Pty) Ltd
2015 4 623 (WCC) (Swart, Lombard, 676).
For comparison, a number of provisions of the Russian legislation (intro-
duction of the principle of business judgment rule) first developed within
the framework of arbitration practice and were summarized by the Supreme
Court. In fact, all decisions of the highest court—the Supreme Court (also
the Supreme Arbitration Court in economic cases until 2014) are part of
Russian legislation, since the lower courts follow the legal positions con-
tained in them. Thus, in the Russian Federation, the country of the conti-
nental legal family, judicial practice plays a supporting role in relation to
legislation, which is considered the pinnacle or endpoint of law of sorts.
1 Corporate Governance in South Africa: A Comparative Aspect 7

4.2 The System of Legal Entities

South African companies are divided into commercial and non-­


commercial. Commercial companies can be classified as follows:

• Companies whose legal status is regulated by the General rules of


Companies Act 2008 (private sector companies—private and public
company) and companies whose status can be changed by the Executive
authorities (public sector companies—state-owned company);
• Companies in which former and current directors are fully jointly and
severally liable for all debts of the company during the performance of
their duties (subspecies of private company—personal liability com-
pany) and companies in which liability is limited and should be due to
unfair or unreasonable actions (all other companies);
• Companies that have the right to freely place their securities, including
on the stock exchange (public company) and those whose Memorandum
of incorporation limits the turnover of shares and prohibits their offer
to other persons (private company) or such placement is not provided
by law (state-owned company).

This system in its main division into public and private company is very
similar to the Russian one, where after the reform of 2014, public and non-
public corporations appeared in the Civil code of the Russian Federation.
Only stock corporations can be public in Russia. Shares of the latter
are freely placed or traded (Article 66.3 of the Russian civil code). Non-­
public are both stock corporations and limited liability companies. In
short, the difference between them is as follows: the authorized capital of
a joint-stock company is divided into shares—securities. Shares in a lim-
ited liability company are not. The law on limited liability companies
provides for a number of rules aimed at maintaining the personal compo-
sition of the business—the pre-emptive right to buy a share, the ability to
establish a ban on the alienation of the share to third parties. The ban on
the alienation of shares is void.
These forms of legal entities were replaced by open and closed joint-­
stock companies, divided on the basis of the composition of shareholders.
Their re-registration as public or non-public companies is carried out
when the company makes changes to its Charter for the first time.
8 A. S. Laletina and I. A. Kosyakin

4.3 The Internal Structure of the Company

The supreme governing body of the company in South Africa is the gen-
eral meeting of shareholders. An annual meeting in public companies is
to be held for the first time not later than 18 months after the date of
company registration and subsequently every calendar year, but not later
than 15 months from the date of the previous one (Companies Act 2008,
61 (7). At the annual general meeting, the report of the directors and the
audit committee are presented, as well as the financial statements, the
election of the directors (unless otherwise provided by Memorandum of
Incorporation) is held, the auditor (to confirm the annual statements)
and the audit committee are appointed.
As such, there is no limitation of competence: any issues that a share-
holder deems necessary may be submitted to the general meeting of
shareholders. In Russia, however, the general meeting is competent to
resolve only those matters expressly mentioned by Federal Law №208-
FZ of 26.12.1995 “On Stock Corporations” (hereinafter—208-FZ).
Only in a non-public corporation, by a unanimous decision of all share-
holders, may additional issues be referred to the competence of the gen-
eral meeting (p. 3 and 4, art. 59 208-FZ).
The Anglo-Saxon model of corporate governance is a one-tier model.
This means that in addition to the general meeting of shareholders, a
single board is created in the company, which primarily performs mana-
gerial functions and resolves strategic issues.
Taking into account corporate governance practices—both in South
Africa and in Russia, the board (sovet directorov) combines the functions
of the classic Anglo-Saxon Board and the German supervisory Board
(Aufsichtsrat).
It is important to note that the Russian board of directors and execu-
tive bodies are different entities. The sole executive body (generalniy
director—managing director) is mandatory and its competence includes
all matters not related to the competence of other bodies. He cannot
even be chairman of the board. The board of directors resolves issues
within its competence by the law and the Charter. A collegial executive
body (pravlenie) is created in only few Russian societies (unlike Germany,
where Vorstand is mandatory).
1 Corporate Governance in South Africa: A Comparative Aspect 9

In South Africa, in a private company—the board can be represented


by one person. A public company board must consist of at least three
persons.
South African law also provides for the following original features that
can be established in the Memorandum of Incorporation:

• Direct appointment of a director or directors by a person named in the


Memorandum of Incorporation;
• Status of director ex officio (for example, CFO of the parent company
is the director of subsidiaries, which is specified in their charters). It
seems that it is convenient for jurisdictions with an abundance of ver-
tically integrated holding companies, including Russia, where there is
no such rule;
• Appointment of alternate directors in the event of the inability of
directors to perform their duties (Companies Act 2008, 66 (4)).

However, the use of such opportunities is limited: the general meeting


of all types of companies (except state-owned companies) should directly
elect at least 50% of directors and alternate directors.
Vacancies on the board can be filled either individually or together—if
the next meeting of shareholders occurs or if the number of directors is
less than the minimum established by the Memorandum of Incorporation
(Companies Act 2008, 68). The powers of directors may be terminated
separately—this requires a simple majority of votes at the general meet-
ing (Companies Act 2008, 71).
In South Africa, a director may be a capable individual who meets the
requirements of the Memorandum of Incorporation, and has not been
disqualified. The board of directors of a Russian stock corporation is
elected annually in full, unless otherwise provided by the Charter of a
non-public corporation (Art. 66.3 of Civil Code, Art. 66 208-FZ). In a
limited liability company, the procedure for electing the board of direc-
tors is provided for by the Charter (Art. 32 of Federal Law of 08.02.1998
№14-FZ “On Limited Liability Corporations”).
Board committees in South Africa are not, unlike in Russia, advisory
bodies. They may be delegated the competence of the board. Unless oth-
erwise provided by the Charter, board committee membership may not
be limited to directors.
10 A. S. Laletina and I. A. Kosyakin

For public and state-owned companies, it is mandatory to create an


audit committee. For the members of the audit committee, the act estab-
lishes the requirement of independence (e.g., not to be a supplier or
employee of the company) and separation from current management
functions. The Minister may also prescribe the creation of a social and
ethics committee, which keeps the social responsibility and busi-
ness ethics.
In South African public and state-owned companies, a corporate sec-
retary has to be appointed—at the incorporation or later, by the board of
directors. The functions of the corporate secretary may be assigned to a
legal entity. His responsibilities include informing the directors, includ-
ing on issues of law, communication to the board on any violation, the
keeping of protocols, the confirmation of his part of annual financial
statements. Public and state-owned companies must also appoint an
external auditor.
For comparison, Russian legislation pays little attention to the corpo-
rate secretary, whose status is almost entirely regulated by best corporate
governance practices.

5 Some Comments and Conclusions


The national system of corporate governance is determined by a wide
range of factors of economic and political nature.
As it seems to the authors, South Africa as a whole has passed a demo-
cratic transit. South Africa is a multinational country with strong politi-
cal institutions (in particular, Congress of South African Trade Unions,
part of the so-called “Alliance of three”—the government coalition—
along with the African national Congress and the South African
Communist Party).
Therefore, even at the level of the law, employee representation is allot-
ted significant importance (unlike in Russia, rescue procedures involve
not only a creditor committee but also an employees’ committee
(Companies Act 2008, 144, 148); trade unions have the right to file indi-
rect claims (Companies Act 2008, 165 (2c)). Russian Federation of the
Independent Trade Unions of Russia, successor of the Soviet
1 Corporate Governance in South Africa: A Comparative Aspect 11

government-­organized trade unions, on the other hand, does not articu-


late its interests on an equal basis with public authorities and employers.
Neither South Africa nor Russia is representative of the Anglo-Saxon
(outsider) or continental (insider) model of corporate governance in its
pure form. The history of South Africa and its economic ties led to the
development of corporate governance on the Anglo-Saxon model.
However, South Africa of the 1990s can be characterized as a country of
“family capitalism”, more typical of, for example, France. The evolution
of the capital structure and the increase in the inclusiveness of the econ-
omy are very slow (Padayachee 2013, 260–262). In this regard, the strong
position of the CEO is seen not so much as a consequence of the disper-
sion of capital, as it happens in the United States, but, on the contrary, as
a consequence of the concentration of capital. Accordingly, South Africa
can be attributed to the Anglo-Saxon model of corporate governance on
the content of norms, but not on the structure of the economy.
The Russian legal system belongs to the Romano-German family.
Russian corporate law has been influenced by both German traditions
(supervisory functions of the board of directors, the possibility to provide
for the executive board) and Anglo-American innovations (this mainly
concerns the rules aimed at protecting the interests of minority share-
holders—indirect claims, disclosure of information, etc.). Therefore,
Russian researchers, speaking about legal models, distinguish Russian
corporate governance with a special model ((Dementyeva 2017, 345–354)
(Gabov 2017, 257–268) Frolova and others).
However, the capital structure in Russia is highly concentrated.
According to a study by Deloitte in 2015, the average value of the largest
stake in the sample of 120 public companies is 57.6%, the average free
float—25%. The authors believe that this data, considering foreign pol-
icy trends, is at least relevant.
The attitude towards the public sector as the “driver of change” is char-
acteristic of developing countries. According to a number of legislative
provisions, the status of public and state-owned companies in South
Africa is equivalent. The fourth report of the King Committee draws
attention to the fact that corporate governance approaches “are equally
applicable and equally valuable for all organizations: private and public,
large and small, for-profit and not-for-profit” (King IV 2016).
12 A. S. Laletina and I. A. Kosyakin

In Russia at the end of the 2000s, there emerged a trend to improve


corporate governance in the public sector: a number of regulations were
issued, introducing the most applicable corporate governance practices,
and the open selection of independent directors in companies with state
participation began. As a result, according to the Russian expert commu-
nity, corporate governance in the public sector has become only slightly
inferior to the level of corporate governance in public companies. For
example, the study of the Russian institute of directors notes that com-
pared to the sample of companies with a listing, companies with state
participation managed to minimize the lag in all respects, except for
information disclosure. Positive dynamics has been observed since 2011
(The survey of corporate governance practice in Russia).
According to the authors, it is important not so much to choose as to
consistently implement the best practices of corporate governance.
Some Russian scholars note a downward trend associated with the sanc-
tions pressure and the subsequent decline in the investment attractive-
ness of the country (Dementyeva, Milovidov 2018, 86–87) Inshakova,
Goncharov).
In Russian the words “governance” and “management” are denoted by
one word “upravlenie”. Therefore, for the Russian-speaking reader it is not
difficult to understand that corporate governance is aimed not only to
increase investment attractiveness, but also to establish the proper process
of rational and effective functioning of management.
Corporate governance in South Africa is in a trend that can be described
by the words “corporate governance is not an end in itself ”.
Let us consider this conclusion with the example of principle 7 of King
IV Code on Corporate Governance, which states that “the governing
body should comprise the most appropriate balance of knowledge, skills,
experience, diversity and independence for it to discharge its governance
role and responsibility objectively and effectively”.
All companies do not need to pedantically meet the standard on inde-
pendent directors and introduce corporate governance practices point by
point. There must be a proper balance between executive directors (who
represent the board’s management point of view), non-executive directors
and independent directors (King IV 2016).
The board in Anglo-Saxon countries, including South Africa, is at the
center of the corporate governance system. Therefore, in contrast to
1 Corporate Governance in South Africa: A Comparative Aspect 13

Russia, the understanding of the board as a means of control in the broad-


est sense (as governance and management) is directly reflected in the
practices of corporate governance: there should be as many directors as
are needed for the board and its committees to worked effectively
(Verbicky). We need those corporate governance practices that reflect the
scale, industry and ownership specifics of the business.
It seems to the authors that both basic models of corporate governance
have common foundations of management order, less subject to national
specifics and more—as shown by the example of South Africa and
Russia—to economic conditions.

References
Burkaltseva, D. D., Borsch, L. M., Blazhevich, O. G., Frolova, E. E., & Labonin,
I. V. (2017). Financial and Economic Security of Business as a Primary
Element in the Economic System. Espacios, 38(33), 3.
Corporate Governance Structures of the Russian Public Corporations. Study of
the Corporate Governance Center “Deloitte” in CIS. (2015). Retrieved from
www2.deloitte.com/ru/ru/pages/risk/articles/2016/corporate-governance-
structures-of-public-russian-companies.html.
Croucher, R., & Miles, L. (2010). Corporate Governance and Employees in
South Africa. Journal of Corporate Law Studies, 10(2), 367–389.
Dementyeva, A. G. (2017). Corporate Governance: Textbook. Moscow:
INFRA-M, 496 p.
Dementyeva, A. G., Milovidov, V. D. (Ed.) and Others. (2018). Corporate
Governance in Russia: Innovations and Trends. Monography. Moscow:
MGIMO-University.
Dolinskaya, V., Kalinina, A., Inshakova, A., & Goncharov, A. (2019). Corporate
Conflicts in the System of Public Relations, Law, and Legislation of the
Russian Federation. In E. G. Popkova (Ed.), “Conflict-Free” Socio-Economic
Systems (pp. 75–88). Bingley: Emerald Publishing Limited.
Dudin, M. N., Vysotskaya, N. V., Frolova, E. E., Pukhart, A. A., & Galkina,
M. V. (2017a). Improving Professional Competence of the Staff as a Strategic
Factor for Sustainable Development of Companies. Journal of Business and
Retail Management Research, 12(1), 133–142.
14 A. S. Laletina and I. A. Kosyakin

Dudin, M. N., Ivashchenko, N. P., Frolova, E. E., Selezneva, N. A., & Galkina,
M. V. (2017b). Professional Competences of Personnel as a Factor of Forming
Intellectual Capital of Business Entities. International Journal of Economic
Research, 14, 15, 429–440.
Gabov, A. V. (Ed.) and Others. (2017). Legal Entities in the Russian Civil Law.
Vol. 2. Types of Legal Entities in Russian Legislation. Monograph. Moscow:
INFRA-M, 352 p.
King IV. Report on Corporate Governance for South Africa. (2016). The
Institute of Directors in Southern Africa NPC. Retrieved from http://c.
ymcdn.com/sites/iodsa.site-ym.com/resource/collection/684B68A7-
B768-465C-8214-E3A007F15A5A/IoDSA_King_IV_Report_=_
WebVersion.pdf.
Ownership of JSE-Listed Companies. Research Report for National Treasury.
September 2017. Retrieved from https://www.gov.za/xh/node/773869.
Padayachee, V. (2013). Corporate Governance in South Africa: From ‘Old Boys
Club’ to ‘Ubuntu’? Transformation: Critical Perspectives on Southern Africa.
No, 81/82, 260–290.
du Plessis, J. J. (2009). Reflections and Perspectives on the South African Close
Corporation as Business Vehicle for SMEs. New Zealand Business Law
Quarterly, 15, 250–275.
South African Company Law for the 21th Century. Guidelines for Corporate
Law Reform. May 2004. Government Gazette. No. 26493.
Swart, C. W. J. C., & Lombard, M. (2017). Representation of Companies
Under the Companies Act 71 of 2008. Journal of Contemporary Roman-Dutch
Law, 80, 666–682.
The Survey of Corporate Governance Practice in Russia: The Comparative
Analysis by the Results of 2004–2014. Russian Directors Institute. Retrieved
from http://rid.ru/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/2015_Исследование_
РИД-2004-2014_итог.pdf.
Verbicky, V. K. (2015). From Ideal to Real. What Is Really Necessary for Companies
to Application in Practice from Corporate Governance Best Practices. Moscow:
Alpina Publisher. 216 p.
Zelentsov, A. B., Dolinskaya, V. V., Frolova, E. E., Kucherenko, P. A., & Dudin,
M. N. (2017). Comparative Analysis of Regulatory Instruments and the
Trend Towards the Harmonization of Proprietary Regulation in the Civil
Law of Member States of BRICS. Journal of Advanced Research in Law and
Economics, 8(5), 1641–1649.
2
Hi-Tech Development of Modern Africa:
Opportunities and Barriers
Bruno S. Sergi and Elena G. Popkova

1 Introduction
Technological progress plays an important role in functioning and devel-
opment of socio-economic systems, determining their opportunities of
improvement of the internal environment and improvement of position
in the external environment. In the conditions of the digital economy,
usage of opportunities of technological progress envisages hi-tech devel-
opment of socio-economic systems.
Internal manifestations of this development are connected to growth
of effectiveness of satisfying the public needs. Thus, for example, digital
medicine allows raising the standards of provision of medical services and
increasing the duration of healthy life; digital education provides mass

B. S. Sergi
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
University of Messina, Messina, Italy
e-mail: bsergi@fas.harvard.edu
E. G. Popkova (*)
Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), Moscow, Russia

© The Author(s) 2020 15


E. G. Popkova et al. (eds.), Supporting Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development in
Africa - Volume II, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41983-7_2
16 B. S. Sergi and E. G. Popkova

accessibility and high quality of educational services, as well as increase of


human capital in the economy; digital agriculture allows increasing the
efficiency of production of food products and solving the problem of
famine, and so on. In the countries of modern Africa, these problems are
very urgent—so their hi-tech development is not just preferable, as in
most other regions of the world, but is critically necessary for implement-
ing the global goals in the sphere of sustainable development.
External manifestations of hi-tech development of economic systems
consist in expansion of their opportunities for export, import substitu-
tion, and provision of the national economic security (in the aspect of
reduction of dependence on import) due to increase of the competitive-
ness of domestic entrepreneurship. Also, the opportunities for interna-
tional economic integration within the African region of the global
economy and beyond it are expanded—this allows for foreign economic
cooperation by the most stable and profitable conditions.
Expansion of foreign economic activities is one of the strategic priori-
ties of modern African countries that strive to strengthen their positions
in the system of international economic relations and pass from the status
of recipients of financial support to the status of progressive economic
systems that deal with venture investments and develop international
entrepreneurship. Thus, the problem of provision of hi-tech development
of modern Africa is actualized. This work aims at studying the opportuni-
ties and barriers on the path of this development and at determining the
perspectives of overcoming them.

2 Materials and Method


The fundamental and applied issues of hi-tech development of modern
socio-economic systems in the context of the digital economy, the knowl-
edge economy, and the Fourth industrial revolution are studied in the
works of Haabazoka (2019a, b), Petrenko et al. (2018), Popkova (2019),
Popkova and Sergi (2018, 2019, 2020), Ragulina (2019), Ragulina et al.
(2019a, b), Sergi et al. (2019a, b, c, d, e, f ), Sergi (2003, 2019), Wamboye
et al. (2015b), and Wlodarczak (2012). The specifics of development of
socio-economic systems of modern African countries are reflected in the
2 Hi-Tech Development of Modern Africa: Opportunities… 17

works Tiruneh et al. (2017), Wamboye and Sergi (2019), Wamboye et al.
(2013, 2014, 2015a, 2016).
The overview of the literature on the topic of the chapter shows that
the large number of works on the topic of hi-tech development and
development of the economy of African countries determines a strong
theoretical basis of the research. At the same time, the problem of hi-tech
development of African countries is poorly studied and requires further
elaboration.

3 Results
The objects of the research are top 10 countries of African countries as to
the share of hi-tech export in the structure of industrial export in 2018,
for which the statistical data are available and according to the list of
African countries by the World Bank (2019c). Let us determine the con-
tribution of various indicators of hi-tech development of socio-economic
systems of African countries in the share of their hi-tech export in the
structure of industrial export and in the share of mid-tech and hi-tech
production in the structure of industry (Table 2.1).
As shown in Table 2.1, the highest share of hi-tech export in the struc-
ture of industrial export (88.52%) and the largest share of mid-tech and
hi-tech production in the structure of industry (9.44%) are observed in
Seychelles. The values of the factors of hi-tech development in this coun-
try are rather high, though not the highest in the selection of African
countries. Direct average of the share of hi-tech export in the structure of
industrial export constituted 13.01%, but variation is very high
(196.25%). Average share of mid-tech and hi-tech production in the
structure of industry constituted 2.79%, but variation is also very high
(269.23%).
Average accessibility of online state services is assessed at 0.55 (low
value, variation is moderate: 29.80%). Average protection of intellectual
property constitutes 4.04 points (low value, variation is low: 13.89%).
Average share of Internet users among African countries in 2018 consti-
tuted 28.21% (low value, variation is high: 50.78%). Average level of
digital literacy (population’s digital skills are assessed at 3.63 points (low
18

Table 2.1 Factors and results of hi-tech development of African countries in 2018
Medium- and
High-Tech
High-­ Manufacturing, 1.16 9.03
technology value added share 1.12 Intellectual 3.05 6.05 Digital Venture
exports, % of in total E-Participation property Internet skills among capital
manufactured manufacturing Index 0–1 protection users % population availability
exports value added (best) 1–7 (best) pop 1–7 (best) 1–7 (best)
Country y1 y2 x1 x2 x3 x4 x5
Seychelles 88.52 9.44 0.65 4.10 56.50 4.40 2.70
Ethiopia 17.24 0.16 0.57 3.80 15.40 3.50 3.20
Rwanda 12.28 0.07 0.76 4.70 20.00 3.90 3.40
B. S. Sergi and E. G. Popkova

Mozambique 5.64 0.11 0.44 3.10 17.50 2.80 2.00


South Africa 4.64 0.24 0.85 4.40 54.00 3.50 3.00
Burkina Faso 4.39 0.47 0.62 4.10 14.00 3.20 1.70
Cameroon 4.23 0.08 0.33 4.30 25.00 3.80 2.40
Zambia 1.97 0.21 0.40 3.70 25.50 3.70 1.90
Namibia 1.23 0.07 0.39 4.70 31.00 3.40 2.90
Nigeria 1.90 0.33 0.48 3.10 25.70 3.30 1.70
Senegal 1.10 0.22 0.51 4.40 25.70 4.40 2.60
Direct 13.01 1.04 0.55 4.04 28.21 3.63 2.50
average
Standard 25.54 2.79 0.16 0.56 14.32 0.49 0.60
deviation
Coefficient of 196.25 269.23 29.80 13.89 50.78 13.40 24.20
variation, %
Source: Compiled and calculated by the authors based on The World Bank (2019a, b) and World Economic Forum (2019)
2 Hi-Tech Development of Modern Africa: Opportunities… 19

0.7000 0.6526
0.5896
0.6000 0.5096 0.5197
0.5000
0.4000
0.2868
0.3000 0.2236 0.2219
0.2000
0.0833
0.1000 0.0439 0.0250
0.0000
x1 x2 x3 x4 x5

Correlation with y1 Correlation with y2

Fig. 2.1 Coefficients of determination (R2) of influence of the factors on the


results of hi-tech development in countries of Africa in 2018. (Source: Calculated
and compiled by the authors)

value, variation is moderate: 13.40%). Average accessibility of venture


investments—2.50 points (low value, variation is moderate: 24.20%).
The results of correlation analysis are shown in Fig. 2.1.
As shown in Fig. 2.1, correlation of the share of hi-tech export in the
structure of industrial export (y1) and the share of mid-tech and hi-tech
production in the structure of industry (y2) with accessibility of online
state services (x1) is moderate—28.68% and 22.36%, accordingly—
which shows neutral influence of this factor on hi-tech development of
modern African countries. Correlation between y1 and y2 and protection
of intellectual property (x2) is low—4.39% and 2.50%, accordingly—
which shows negative influence of this factor on hi-tech development of
modern African countries.
Correlation between y1 and y2 and the share of Internet users (x3) is
high—58.96% and 65.26%, accordingly, which shows positive influence
of this factor on hi-tech development of modern African countries.
Correlation between y1 and y2 and the level of digital literacy (x4) is
high—50.96% and 51.97%, accordingly, which shows positive influence
of this factor on hi-tech development of modern African countries.
Correlation between y1 and y2 and accessibility of venture investments
(x5) is moderate—22.19% and 8.33%, accordingly, which shows neutral
influence of this factor on hi-tech development of modern African
countries.
Based on the obtained results, we performed SWOT analysis of hi-­
tech development of countries of Africa in 2018 (Table 2.2).
20 B. S. Sergi and E. G. Popkova

Table 2.2 SWOT analysis of hi-tech development of countries of Africa


Strengths Weaknesses
• High level of • lack of protection of intellectual property;
development of digital • deficit of venture investments;
society (population’s • underdevelopment of e-government;
mass digital skills). • low level of development of digital
infrastructure.
Opportunities Threats
• improvement of • negative influence of globalization (foreign
institutes; competition): inflow of final digital technologies
• improvement of into economies of African countries, which
investment climate; hinders the development of their own hi-tech
• development of the entrepreneurship;
e-government system; • lack of state’s initiative for digital modernization
• development of digital of economy.
infrastructure.
Source: Developed and compiled by the authors

As shown in Table 2.2, the conditions for hi-tech development of


modern African countries are not favorable. The only strength (precondi-
tion of hi-tech development) is high level of development of digital soci-
ety (population’s mass digital skills). The weaknesses (barriers on the path
of hi-tech development) are lack of protection of intellectual property,
deficit of venture investments, underdevelopment of e-government, and
low level of development of digital infrastructure (low accessibility of
Internet).
The opportunities and perspective of hi-tech development of countries
of modern Africa include improvement of the institutes (for protection
of intellectual property), improvement of investment climate, develop-
ment of the e-government system, and development of digital infrastruc-
ture. The threats to hi-tech development of modern African countries
include negative influence of globalization (foreign competition): inflow
of final digital technologies into economies of African countries, which
hinders the development of their own hi-tech entrepreneurship, and lack
of the state’s initiative for digital modernization of economy.
2 Hi-Tech Development of Modern Africa: Opportunities… 21

4 Conclusion
Thus, it has been determined that modern Africa requires accelerated hi-­
tech development, as growth of global competition in the sphere of high
technologies leads to increase of threats to this development, which
include appearance of more foreign rivals with final technologies and
attractive goods in the national markets, which undermines the possibili-
ties of development of domestic hi-tech production in countries of Africa.
At present, due to state’s low interest in hi-tech development in African
countries, the conditions for it are not favorable: there are no necessary
infrastructure (Internet access) and institutes (protection of intellectual
property is not provided). The state does not provide an example of usage
of opportunities of technological progress for society and entrepreneur-
ship through development of e-government; the inflow of venture invest-
ments into economies of African countries is complicated due to low
investment attractiveness of their economies.
At the same time, society is interested in hi-tech development of
African countries’ economies—this is proved by population’s mass digital
skills. That’s why if the state’s barriers are overcome, the African countries’
economies will be able to achieve quick hi-tech development in the near
future. From the scientific and economic point of view, hi-tech develop-
ment of modern Africa is a “market gap”, which could and should be
overcome through targeted state regulation. This will ensure successful
inclusion of African countries in global competition in the hi-tech sphere,
which will create advantages in the form of expansion of opportunities of
African countries for international integration, increase of population’s
living standards, and successful achievement of the global goals in the
sphere of sustainable development.

Acknowledgments The research was performed with financial support from the
Russian Fund of Fundamental Research within the scientific project No.
18-010-00103 A.
22 B. S. Sergi and E. G. Popkova

References
Haabazoka, L. (2019a). A Study of the Effects of Technological Innovations on
the Performance of Commercial Banks in Developing Countries – A Case of
the Zambian Banking Industry. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, 57,
1246–1260.
Haabazoka, L. (2019b). Project Finance for Africa’s Construction Sector: Can
Stabilization Funds Work? Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, 57, 32–60.
Petrenko, E., Pritvorova, T., & Dzhazykbaeva, B. (2018). Sustainable
Development Processes: Service Sector in Post-industrial Economy. Journal of
Security and Sustainability Issues, 7(4), 781–791. https://doi.org/10.9770/
jssi.2018.7.4(14).
Popkova, E. G. (2019). Preconditions of Formation and Development of
Industry 4.0 in the Conditions of Knowledge Economy. Studies in Systems,
Decision and Control, 169(1), 65–72.
Popkova, E. G., & Sergi, B. S. (2018). Will Industry 4.0 and Other Innovations
Impact Russia’s Development? In B. S. Sergi (Ed.), Exploring the Future of
Russia’s Economy and Markets: Towards Sustainable Economic Development
(pp. 51–68). Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing Limited.
Popkova, E. G., & Sergi, B. S. (Eds.). (2019). Digital Economy: Complexity and
Variety vs. Rationality. Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Popkova, E. G., & Sergi, B. S. (2020). Human Capital and AI in Industry 4.0.
Convergence and Divergence in Social Entrepreneurship in Russia. Journal of
Intellectual Capital.
Ragulina, Y. V. (2019). Priorities of Development of Industry 4.0 in Modern
Economic Systems with Different Progress in Formation of Knowledge
Economy. Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, 169, 167–174.
Ragulina, Y. V., Alekseev, A. N., Strizhkina, I. V., & Tumanov, A. I. (2019a).
Methodology of Criterial Evaluation of Consequences of the Industrial
Revolution of the 21st Century. Studies in Systems, Decision and Control,
169, 235–244.
Ragulina, Y. V., Semenova, E. I., Avkopashvili, P. T., Dmitrieva, E. A., &
Cherepukhin, T. Y. (2019b). Top-Priority Directions of Implementing New
Internet Technologies on the Territories of Rapid Economic Development.
Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, 726, 182–188.
Sergi, B. S. (2003). Economic Dynamics in Transitional Economies: The Four-P
Governments, the EU Enlargement, and the Bruxelles Consensus. New York:
Routledge.
2 Hi-Tech Development of Modern Africa: Opportunities… 23

Sergi, B. S. (Ed.). (2019). Tech, Smart Cities, and Regional Development in


Contemporary Russia. Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing Limited.
Sergi, B. S., Popkova, E. G., Bogoviz, A. V., & Litvinova, T. N. (2019a).
Understanding Industry 4.0: AI, the Internet of Things, and the Future of Work.
Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing Limited.
Sergi, B. S., Popkova, E. G., Bogoviz, A. V., & Ragulina, J. V. (2019b). Costs
and Profits of Technological Growth in Russia. In B. S. Sergi (Ed.), Tech,
Smart Cities, and Regional Development in Contemporary Russia (pp. 41–54).
Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing Limited.
Sergi, B. S., Popkova, E. G., Bogoviz, A. V., & Ragulina, J. V. (2019c).
Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth: The Experience of Developed and
Developing Countries. In B. S. Sergi & C. C. Scanlon (Eds.), Entrepreneurship
and Development in the 21st Century (pp. 3–32). Bingley, UK: Emerald
Publishing Limited.
Sergi, B. S., Popkova, E. G., Borzenko, K. V., & Przhedetskaya, N. V. (2019d).
Public-Private Partnerships as a Mechanism of Financing of Sustainable
Development. In M. Ziolo & B. S. Sergi (Eds.), Financing Sustainable
Development: Key Challenges and Prospects (pp. 313–339). Cham: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Sergi, B. S., Popkova, E. G., Sozinova, A. A., & Fetisova, O. V. (2019e).
Modeling Russian Industrial, Tech, and Financial Cooperation with the Asia-­
Pacific Region. In B. S. Sergi (Ed.), Tech, Smart Cities, and Regional
Development in Contemporary Russia (pp. 195–223). Bingley, UK: Emerald
Publishing Limited.
Sergi, B. S., Popkova, E. G., Vovchenko, N., & Ponomareva, M. (2019f ).
Central Asia and China: Financial Development Through Cooperation with
Russia. In W. A. Barnett & B. S. Sergi (Eds.), Asia-Pacific Contemporary
Finance and Development (International Symposia in Economic Theory and
Econometrics Vol. 26) (pp. 141–164). Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing Limited.
The World Bank. (2019a). High-technology Exports (% of Manufactured
Exports). Retrieved September 3, 2019, from https://data.worldbank.org/indi-
cator/TX.VAL.TECH.MF.ZS?most_recent_value_desc=true&view=chart.
The World Bank. (2019b). Medium- and High-Tech Manufacturing Value
Added Share in Total Manufacturing Value Added. Retrieved September 3,
2019, from https://tcdata360.worldbank.org/indicators/hbe238413?country
=BRA&indicator=3794&viz=line_chart&years=1990,2014.
The World Bank. (2019c). The World Bank in Africa: Countries. Retrieved
September 3, 2019, from https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/afr.
24 B. S. Sergi and E. G. Popkova

Tiruneh, E. A., Wamboye, E., & Sergi, B. S. (2017). Does Productivity in Africa
Benefit from Advanced Countries’ R&D? Technology Analysis & Strategic
Management, 29(7), 804–816.
Wamboye, E. F., & Sergi, B. S. (2019, June). Exploring the Nature, Motives,
and Implications of Foreign Capital in Africa. World Development
Perspectives, 14.
Wamboye, E., Adekola, A., & Sergi, B. S. (2013). Economic Growth and the
Role of Foreign Aid in Selected African Countries. Development,
56(2), 155–171.
Wamboye, E., Adekola, A., & Sergi, B. S. (2014). Foreign Aid, Legal Origin,
Economic Growth and Africa’s Least Developed Countries. Progress in
Development Studies, 14(4), 335–357.
Wamboye, E., Tochkov, K., & Sergi, B. S. (2015a). Technology Adoption and
Growth in Sub-Saharan African Countries. Comparative Economic Studies,
57(1), 136–167.
Wamboye, E. F., Adekola, A. F., & Sergi, B. S. (2015b). Sectoral Effects on
Female Absolute and Relative Employment in Selected Least Developed
Countries. Gender, Technology and Development, 19(1), 1–42.
Wamboye, E., Adekola, A., & Sergi, B. (2016). ICTs and Labour Productivity
Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa. International Labour Review, 155(2), 231–252.
Wlodarczak, D. (2012). Smart Growth and Urban Economic Development:
Connecting Economic Development and Land-Use Planning Using the
Example of High-Tech Firms. Environment and Planning A, 44(5),
1255–1269.
World Economic Forum. (2019). Retrieved September 3, 2019, from http://www3.
weforum.org/docs/GCR2018/05FullReport/TheGlobalCompetitiveness
Report2018.pdf.
3
Information Society, Telecommunication
Infrastructure, and Digital
Entrepreneurship in Modern Africa
Elena G. Popkova and Julia V. Ragulina

1 Introduction
Modern Africa requires digital modernization, and after that—until
2030—the transition to Industry 4.0. This is due to the fact that,
firstly, the issue of implementing the global goals in the sphere of sus-
tainable development in Africa is very urgent. Its manifestations
include deficit of food, low efficiency in all spheres of economy, includ-
ing education and healthcare, and, as a result, critically low popula-
tion’s living standards (Zambia, one of the largest and most typical
countries of Africa, was rated 170th as to the level of GDP per capita
in 2018; South Africa—the leading African country—was ranked
120th) (World Bank 2019).

E. G. Popkova (*)
Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO),
Moscow, Russia
J. V. Ragulina
RUDN University, Moscow, Russia

© The Author(s) 2020 25


E. G. Popkova et al. (eds.), Supporting Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development in
Africa - Volume II, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41983-7_3
26 E. G. Popkova and J. V. Ragulina

The situation is complicated by the crisis of African entrepreneurship,


which causes the deficit of jobs and limited increase of incomes for wide
groups of population. This leads to intense migration from countries of
Africa. Digital technologies allow for complex solution of this problem,
stimulating the development of entrepreneurship, growth of labor effi-
ciency in all spheres, stimulation of employment, and increase of living
standards and quality of life.
Secondly, despite the more favorable environment, as compared to
most countries from other regions of the world, Africa’s population is less
happy. This is caused by small life span, low level of education, limited
opportunities for realization of human potential, and high social inequal-
ity. As a result, in 2018 Zambia was ranked 109th among countries of the
world in the rating Happy Planet Index, and South Africa was ranked
56th (New Economics Foundation 2019).
Thirdly, digital modernization of economic systems of African countries
will accelerate their economic growth and will allow them participating in
the global competitive struggle in hi-tech markets. African digital entrepre-
neurship will have high global competitiveness and will be able to create
new markets with manifestation of high innovative activity, expand export,
and perform import substitution. This will allow achieving the reduction of
African countries’ dependence on external support (primarily, financial) and
will reduce disproportion in development of the global economy, which will
become more well-balanced, and, as a result, more stable and sustainable.
However, the above advantages are not gained, as now (2019) most coun-
tries of Africa preserve the pre-digital technological mode. In this chapter,
we seek the goal of determining the readiness of African countries for digital
modernization and further transition to Industry 4.0 through determining
the level of development of the information society, telecommunication
infrastructure, and digital entrepreneurship and of outlining the perspectives
of provision and increase of readiness in case of its absence or insufficiency.

2 Materials and Method


The theory and methodology of evaluation of economic systems’ readi-
ness to digital modernization of economy and transition to Industry 4.0
are studied in the works Haabazoka (2019a, b), Petrenko et al. (2018),
3 Information Society, Telecommunication Infrastructure… 27

Popkova (2019), Popkova and Sergi (2019), Popkova and Sergi (2020),
Popkova and Sergi (2018), Ragulina (2019), Ragulina et al. (2019a),
Ragulina et al. (2019b), Sergi et al. (2019a), Sergi et al. (2019b), Sergi
et al. (2019c), Sergi et al. (2019d), Sergi et al. (2019e), Sergi et al. (2019f ),
Sergi et al. (2019g), Sergi (2019), Sergi (2003), and Wamboye et al.
(2015b), The current level, new tendencies, and perspectives of develop-
ment of African countries are discussed in the works Tiruneh et al.
(2017), Wamboye and Sergi (2019), Wamboye et al. (2016), Wamboye
et al. (2013), Wamboye et al. (2014), and Wamboye et al. (2015a). At the
same time, the systemic view on the problem of provision of modern
African countries’ readiness to digital modernization of economy and
transition to Industry 4.0 through the prism of development of the infor-
mation society, telecommunication infrastructure, and digital entrepre-
neurship is not formed by the economic science.
The methodology of the research is based on factor analysis. It is used
for determining the contribution of each preliminary selected factor (19
factors in total) into provision of readiness of African countries for the
economy’s digital modernization and transition to Industry 4.0. The fac-
tors are divided into three logical blocks: IS (information society), TI
(telecommunication infrastructure), and DE (digital entrepreneurship).
The target landmark (model) is South Africa, as the only country of
Africa that implements digital modernization (and is present in the IMD
global digital competitiveness ranking). Zambia is selected as a typical
country of Africa, which preserves the pre-digital technological mode.
For each country we calculate the index of readiness to digital moderniza-
tion of economy and transition to Industry 4.0 (II4.0(Zam)—for Zambia
and II4.0(SAR)—for South Africa) according to the following formula:
(3.1)
I14.0  i  1,19  fi  / 19,

where II4.0—index of readiness of the economic system for digital mod-


ernization of economy and transition to Industry 4.0, shares of 1;
fi—value of the factor of readiness of the economic system for digital
modernization of economy and transition to Industry 4.0, shares of 1.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
the most deeply are often the least capable of expressing their
feelings, and a speechless tongue is with them the result of a full
heart. Besides, you are sure to be repaid for a good action at some
time or another. Like seed sown in the Nile, “the bread cast upon the
waters,” it may not come back to you for many days, but come back
at last it most certainly will. Would you like your change in silver or in
gold? Will you have it in a few graceful, well-chosen expressions, or
in the sterling coin of silent love with its daily thoughts and nightly
prayers; or, better still even than these, will you waive your claim to it
down here, and have it carried to your account above? I am
supposing yours is not one of those natures which have arrived at
the highest, the noblest type of benevolence, and give their gold
neither for silver nor for copper, but freely without return at all. To
these I can offer no encouragement, no advice. Their grapes are
ripened, their harvest is yellow, the light is already shining on them
from the golden hills of heaven.
CHAPTER VI
A DAY THAT IS DEAD

I have been burning old letters to-night; their ashes are fluttering in
the chimney even now; and, alas! while they consume, fleeting and
perishable like the moments they record, “each dying ember” seems
to have “wrought its ghost” upon my heart. Oh! that we could either
completely remember or completely forget. Oh! that the image of
Mnemosyne would remain close enough for us to detect the flaws in
her imperishable marble, or that she would remove herself so far as
to be altogether out of sight. It is the golden haze of “middle
distance” that sheds on her this warm and tender light. She is all the
more attractive that we see her through a double veil of retrospection
and regret, none the less lovely because her beauty is dimmed and
softened in a mist of tears.
Letter after letter they have flared, and blackened, and shrivelled
up. There is an end of them—they are gone. Not a line of those
different handwritings shall I ever see again. The bold, familiar
scrawl of the tried friend and more than brother; why does he come
back to me so vividly to-night? The stout heart, the strong arm, the
brave, kind face, the frank and manly voice. We shall never tread the
stubble nor the heather side by side again; never more pull her up
against the stream, nor float idly down in the hot summer noons to
catch the light air off the water on our heated faces; to discourse, like
David and Jonathan, of all and everything nearest our hearts. Old
friend! old friend! wherever you are, if you have consciousness you
must surely sometimes think of me; I have not forgotten you. I
cannot believe you have forgotten me even there.
And the pains-taking, up-and-down-hill characters of the little child
—the little child for whom the angels came so soon, yet found it
ready to depart, whose fever-wasted lips formed none but words of
confidence and affection, whose blue eyes turned their last dim,
dying looks so fondly on the face it loved.
And there were letters harder to part with than these. Never mind,
they are burnt and done with; letters of which even the superscription
once made a kind heart leap with pleasure so intense it was almost
pain; letters crossed and re-crossed in delicate, orderly lines, bearing
the well-known cipher, breathing the well-known perfume, telling the
old, false tale in the old, false phrases, so trite and worn-out, yet
seeming always so fresh and new.
The hand that formed them has other tasks to occupy it now; the
heart from which they came is mute and cold. Hope withers, love
dies—times are altered. What would you have? It is a world of
change. Nevertheless this has been a disheartening job; it has put
me in low spirits; I must call “Bones” out of his cupboard to come and
sit with me.
“What is this charm,” I ask him, “that seems to belong so
exclusively to the past?—this ‘tender grace of a day that is dead’?
and must I look after it down the gulf into which it has dropped with
such irrepressible longing only because it will never come back to
me? Is a man the greater or wiser that he lived a hundred years ago
or a thousand? Are reputations, like wine, the mellower and the more
precious for mere age, even though they have been hid away in a
cellar all the time? Is a thing actually fairer and better because I have
almost forgotten how it looked when present, and shall never set
eyes on it again? I entertain the greatest aversion to Horace’s
laudator temporis acti, shall always set my face against the
superstition that ‘there were giants in those days’; and yet wherever I
went in the world previous to my retirement here that I might live with
you, I found the strange maxim predominate, that everything was
very much better before it had been improved!
“If I entered a club and expressed my intention of going to the
Opera, for instance, whatever small spark of enthusiasm I could
kindle was submitted to a wet blanket on the spot. ‘Good heavens!’
would exclaim some venerable philosopher of the Cynic and
Epicurean schools, ‘there is no opera now, nor ballet neither. My
good sir, the thing is done; it’s over. We haven’t an artist left. Ah! you
should have seen Taglioni dance; you should have heard Grisi sing;
you should have lived when Plancus was consul. In short, you
should be as old as I am, and as disgusted, and as gouty, and as
disagreeable!’
“Or I walked into the smoking-room of that same resort, full of
some athletic gathering at Holland Park, some ’Varsity hurdle-race,
some trial of strength or skill amongst those lively boys, the
subalterns of the Household Brigade; and ere I could articulate
‘brandy and soda’ I had Captain Barclay thrown body and bones in
my face. ‘Walk, sir! You talk of walking?’ (I didn’t, for there had been
barely time to get a word in edgeways, or my parable would have
exhausted itself concerning a running high leap.) ‘But there is
nothing like a real pedestrian left; they don’t breed ’em, sir, in these
days: can’t grow them, and don’t know how to train them if they
could! Show me a fellow who would make a match with Barclay to-
day. Barclay, sir, if he were alive, would walk all your best men down
after he came in from shooting. Ask your young friends which of ’em
would like to drive the mail from London to Edinburgh without a
greatcoat! I don’t know what’s come to the present generation. It
must be the smoking, or the light claret, perhaps. They’re done,
they’re used up, they’re washed out. Why, they go to covert by
railway, and have their grouse driven to them on a hill! What would
old Sir Tatton or Osbaldeston say to such doings as these? I was at
Newmarket, I tell you, when the Squire rode his famous match—two
hundred miles in less than nine hours! I saw him get off old Tranby,
and I give you my honour the man looked fresher than the horse!
Don’t tell me. He was rubbed down by a couple of prize-fighters
(there were real bruisers in those days, and the best man used to
win), dressed, and came to dinner just as you would after a five-mile
walk. Pocket Hercules, you call him—one in a thousand? There were
hundreds of such men in my day. Why, I recollect in Tom Smith’s
time that I myself——’
“But at this point I used to make my escape, because there are
two subjects on which nobody is so brilliant as not to be prolix, so
dull as not to be enthusiastic—his doings in the saddle and his
adventures with the fair. To honour either of these triumphs he blows
a trumpet-note loud and long in proportion to the antiquity of the
annals it records. Why must you never again become possessed of
such a hunter as Tally-Ho? Did that abnormal animal really carry you
as well as you think, neither failing when the ground was deep nor
wavering when the fences were strong? Is it strictly true that no day
was ever too long for him? that he was always in the same field with
the hounds? And have not the rails he rose at, the ditches he
covered so gallantly, increased annually in height and depth and
general impossibility ever since that fatal morning when he broke his
back, under the Coplow in a two-foot drain?
“You can’t find such horses now? Perhaps you do not give them
so liberal a chance of proving their courage, speed, and endurance.
“On the other topic it is natural enough, I dare say, for you to ‘yarn’
with all the more freedom that there is no one left to contradict.
People used enormous coloured silk handkerchiefs in that remote
period, when you threw yours with such Oriental complacency, and
the odalisques who picked it up are probably to-day so old and stiff
they could not bend their backs to save their lives. But were they
really as fond, and fair, and faithful as they seem to you now? Had
they no caprices to chill, no whims to worry, no rivals on hand, to
drive you mad? Like the sea, those eyes that look so deep and blue
at a distance, are green and turbid and full of specks when you come
quite close. Was it all sunshine with Mary, all roses with Margaret, all
summer with Jane? What figures the modern women make of
themselves, you say. How they offend your eye, those bare cheek-
bones, those clinging skirts, those hateful chignons! Ah! the cheeks
no longer hang out a danger-signal when you approach; the skirts
are no more lifted, ever such a little, to make room for you in the
corner of the sofa next the fire; and though you might have had locks
of hair enough once to have woven a parti-coloured chignon of your
own, it would be hopeless now to beg as much as would make a
finger-ring for Queen Mab. What is it, I say, that causes us to look
with such deluded eyes on the past? Is it sorrow or malice,
disappointment or regret? Are our teeth still on edge with the sour
grapes we have eaten or forborne? Do we glower through the
jaundiced eyes of malevolence, or is our sight failing with the shades
of a coming night?”
Bones seldom delivers himself of his opinion in a hurry. “I think,”
he says very deliberately, “that this, like many other absurdities of
human nature, originates in that desire for the unattainable which is,
after all, the mainspring of effort, improvement, and approach
towards perfection. Man longs for the impossible, and what is so
impossible as the past? That which hath vanished becomes
therefore valuable, that which is hidden attractive, that which is
distant desirable. There is a strange lay still existing by an old
Provençal troubadour, no small favourite with iron-handed, lion-
hearted King Richard, of which the refrain, ‘so far away,’ expresses
very touchingly the longing for the absent, perhaps only because
absent, that is so painful, so human, and so unwise. The whole story
is wild and absurd to a degree, yet not without a saddened interest,
owing to the mournful refrain quoted above. It is thus told in the
notes to Warton’s History of English Poetry:—
“‘Jeffrey Rudell, a famous troubadour of Provence, who is also
celebrated by Petrarch, had heard from the adventurers in the
Crusades the beauty of a Countess of Tripoli highly extolled. He
became enamoured from imagination, embarked for Tripoli, fell sick
on the voyage through the fever of expectation, and was brought on
shore at Tripoli, half-expiring. The countess, having received the
news of the arrival of this gallant stranger, hastened to the shore and
took him by the hand. He opened his eyes, and at once overpowered
by his disease and her kindness, had just time to say inarticulately
that having seen her he died satisfied. The countess made him a
most splendid funeral, and erected to his memory a tomb of porphyry
inscribed with an epitaph in Arabian verse. She commanded his
sonnets to be richly copied and illuminated with letters of gold, was
seized with a profound melancholy, and turned nun. I will endeavour
to translate one of the sonnets he made on his voyage, “Yret et
dolent m’en partray,” etc. It has some pathos and sentiment. “I
should depart pensive but for this love of mine so far away, for I
know not what difficulties I may have to encounter, my native land
being so far away. Thou who hast made all things and who formed
this love of mine so far away, give me strength of body, and then I
may hope to see this love of mine so far away. Surely my love must
be founded on true merit, as I love one so far away. If I am easy for a
moment, yet I feel a thousand pains for her who is so far away. No
other love ever touched my heart than this for her so far away. A
fairer than she never touched any heart, either so near or so far
away.’”
“It is utter nonsense, I grant you, and the doings of this love-sick
idiot seem to have been in character with his stanzas, yet is there a
mournful pathos about that wailing so far away which, well-worded,
well-set, and well-performed, would make the success of a drawing-
room song.
“If the Countess of Tripoli, who seems also to have owned a
susceptible temperament, had been his cousin and lived next door,
he would probably not have admired her the least, would certainly
never have wooed her in such wild and pathetic verse; but he gave
her credit for all the charms that constituted his own ideal of
perfection, and sickened even to death for the possession of his
distant treasure, simply and solely because it was so far away!
“What people all really love is a dream. The stronger the
imagination the more vivid the phantom that fills it; but on the other
hand, the waking is more sudden and more complete. If I were a
woman instead of a—a—specimen, I should beware how I set my
heart upon a man of imagination, a quality which the world is apt to
call genius, with as much good sense as there would be in
confounding the sparks from a blacksmith’s anvil with the blacksmith
himself. Such a man takes the first doll that flatters him, dresses her
out in the fabrications of his own fancy, falls down and worships, gets
bored, and gets up, pulls the tinsel off as quick as he put it on; being
his own he thinks he may do what he likes with it, and finds any
other doll looks just as well in the same light and decked with the
same trappings. Narcissus is not the only person who has fallen in
love with the reflection, or what he believed to be the reflection, of
himself. Some get off with a ducking, some are drowned in sad
earnest for their pains.
“Nevertheless, as the French philosopher says, ‘There is nothing
so real as illusion.’ The day that is dead has for men a more actual, a
more tangible, a more vivid identity than the day that exists, nay,
than the day as yet unborn. One of the most characteristic and
inconvenient delusions of humanity is its incapacity for enjoyment of
the present. Life is a journey in which people are either looking
forward or looking back. Nobody has the wisdom to sit down for half-
an-hour in the shade listening to the birds overhead, examining the
flowers underfoot. It is always ‘How pleasant it was yesterday! What
fun we shall have to-morrow!’ Never ‘How happy we are to-day!’ And
yet what is the past, when we think of it, but a dream vanished into
darkness—the future but an uncertain glimmer that may never
brighten into dawn?
“It is strange how much stronger in old age than in youth is the
tendency to live in the hereafter. Not the real hereafter of another
world, but the delusive hereafter of this. Tell a lad of eighteen that he
must wait a year or two for anything he desires very eagerly, and he
becomes utterly despondent of attaining his wish; but an old man of
seventy is perfectly ready to make arrangements or submit to
sacrifices for his personal benefit to be rewarded in ten years’ time or
so, when he persuades himself he will still be quite capable of
enjoying life. The people who purchase annuities, who plant trees,
who breed horses for their own riding are all past middle age.
Perhaps they have seen so many things brought about by waiting,
more particularly when the deferred hope had caused the sick
heart’s desire to pass away, that they have resolved for them also
must be ‘a good time coming,’ if only they will have patience and
‘wait a little longer.’ Perhaps they look forward because they cannot
bear to look back. Perhaps in such vague anticipations they try to
delude their own consciousness, and fancy that by ignoring and
refusing to see it they can escape the inevitable change. After all,
this is the healthiest and most invigorating practice of the two.
Something of courage seems wanting in man or beast when either is
continually looking back. To the philosopher ‘a day that is dead’ has
no value but for the lesson it affords; to the rest of mankind it is
inestimably precious for the unaccountable reason that it can never
come again.”
“Be it so,” I answered; “let me vote in the majority. I think with the
fools, I honestly confess, but I have also a theory of my own on this
subject, which I am quite prepared to hear ridiculed and despised.
My supposition is that ideas, feelings, delusions, name them how
you will, recur in cycles, although events and tangible bodies, such
as we term realities, must pass away. I cannot remember in my life
any experience that could properly be called a new sensation. When
in a position of which I had certainly no former knowledge I have
always felt a vague, dreamy consciousness that something of the
same kind must have happened to me before. Can it be that my soul
has existed previously, long ere it came to tenant this body that it is
so soon about to quit? Can it be that its immortality stretches both
ways, as into the future so into the past? May I not hope that in the
infinity so fitly represented by a circle, the past may become the
future as the future most certainly must become the past, and the
day that is dead, to which I now look back so mournfully, may rise
again newer, fresher, brighter than ever in the land of the morning
beyond that narrow paltry gutter which we call the grave?” I waited
anxiously for his answer. There are some things we would give
anything to know, things on which certainty would so completely alter
all our ideas, our arrangements, our hopes, and our regrets. Ignorant
of the coast to which we are bound, its distance, its climate, and its
necessities, how can we tell what to pack up and what to leave
behind? To be sure, regarding things material, we are spared all
trouble of selection; but there is yet room for much anxiety
concerning the outfit of the soul. For the space of a minute he
seemed to ponder, and when he did speak, all he said was this—
“I know, but I must not tell,” preserving thereafter an inflexible
silence till it was time to go to bed.
CHAPTER VII
THE FOUR-LEAVED SHAMROCK

We are all looking for it; shall we ever find it? Can it be cultivated in
hothouses by Scotch head-gardeners with high wages and Doric
accent? or shall we come upon it accidentally, peeping through
green bulrushes, lurking in tangled woodlands, or perched high on
the mountain’s crest, far above the region of grouse and heather,
where the ptarmigan folds her wings amongst the silt and shingle in
the clefts of the bare grey rock? We climb for it, we dive for it, we
creep for it on our belly, like the serpent, eating dust to any amount
in the process; but do we ever succeed in plucking such a specimen
as, according to our natures, we can joyfully place in our hats for
ostentation or hide under our waistcoats for true love?
Do you remember Sir Walter Scott’s humorous poem called the
“Search after Happiness”? Do you remember how that Eastern
monarch who strove to appropriate the shirt of a contented man
visited every nation in turn till he came to Ireland, the native soil
indeed of all the shamrock tribe; how his myrmidons incontinently
assaulted one of the “bhoys” whose mirthful demeanour raised their
highest hopes, and how

“Shelelagh, their plans was well-nigh after baulking,


Much less provocation will set it a-walking;
But the odds that foiled Hercules foiled Paddywhack.
They floored him, they seized him, they stripped him, alack!
Up, bubboo! He hadn’t a shirt to his back!”

Mankind has been hunting the four-leaved shamrock from the very
earliest times on record. I believe half the legends of mythology, half
the exploits of history, half the discoveries of science, originate in the
universal search. Jason was looking for it with his Argonauts when
he stumbled on the Golden Fleece; Columbus sailed after it in the
track of the setting sun, scanning that bare horizon of an endless
ocean, day after day, with sinking heart yet never-failing courage, till
the land-weeds drifting round his prow, the land-birds perching on his
spars, brought him their joyous welcome from the undiscovered
shore; Alexander traversed Asia in his desire for it; Cæsar dashed
through the Rubicon in its pursuit; Napoleon well-nigh grasped it
after Austerlitz, but the frosts and fires of Moscow shrivelled it into
nothing ere his hand could close upon the prize. To find it, sages
have ransacked their libraries, adepts exhausted their alembics,
misers hoarded up their gold. It is not twined with the poet’s bay-
leaves, nor is it concealed in the madman’s hellebore. People have
been for it to the Great Desert, the Blue Mountains, the Chinese
capital, the interior of Africa, and returned empty-handed as they
went. It abhors courts, camps, and cities; it strikes no root in palace
nor in castle; and if more likely to turn up in a cottage-garden, who
has yet discovered the humble plot of ground on which it grows?
Nevertheless, undeterred by warning, example, and the
experience of repeated failures, human nature relaxes nothing of its
persevering quest. I have seen a dog persist in chasing swallows as
they skimmed along the lawn; but then the dog had once caught a
wounded bird, and was therefore acting on an assured and tried
experience of its own. If you or I had ever found one four-leaved
shamrock, we should be justified in cherishing a vague hope that we
might some day light upon another.
The Knights of the Round Table beheld with their own eyes that
vision of the Holy Vessel, descending in their midst, which scattered
those steel-clad heroes in all directions on the adventure of the
Sangreal; but perhaps the very vows of chivalry they had registered,
the very exploits they performed, originated with that restless longing
they could not but acknowledge in common with all mankind for
possession of the four-leaved shamrock.

“And better he loved, that monarch bold,


On venturous quest to ride
In mail and plate, by wood and wold,
Than with ermine trapped and cloth of gold
In princely bower to bide.
The bursting crash of a foeman’s spear
As it shivered against his mail,
Was merrier music to his ear
Than courtier’s whispered tale.
And the clash of Caliburn more dear,
When on hostile casque it rung,
Than all the lays to their monarch’s praise
The harpers of Reged sung.
He loved better to bide by wood and river,
Than in bower of his dame Queen Guenevere;
For he left that lady, so lovely of cheer,
To follow adventures of danger and fear,
And little the frank-hearted monarch did wot
That she smiled in his absence on brave Launcelot.”

Oh! those lilting stanzas of Sir Walter’s, how merrily they ring on
one’s ear, like the clash of steel, the jingling of bridles, or the
measured cadence of a good steed’s stride! We can fancy ourselves
spurring through the mêlée after the “selfless stainless” king, or
galloping with him down the grassy glades of Lyonesse on one of his
adventurous quests for danger, honour, renown—and—the four-
leaved shamrock.
Obviously it did not grow in the tilt-yards at Caerleon or the palace
gardens of Camelot; nay, he had failed to find it in the posy lovely
Guenevere wore on her bosom. Alas! that even Launcelot, the flower
of chivalry, the brave, the courteous, the gentle, the sorrowing and
the sinful, must have sought for it there in vain.
Everybody begins life with a four-leaved shamrock in view, an
ideal of his own, that he follows up with considerable wrong-
headedness to the end. Such fiction has a great deal to answer for in
the way of disappointment, dissatisfaction, and disgust. Many
natures find themselves completely soured and deteriorated before
middle age, and why? Because, forsooth, they have been through
the garden with no better luck than their neighbours. I started in
business, we will say, with good connections, sufficient capital, and
an ardent desire to make a fortune. Must I be a saddened, morose,
world-wearied man because, missing that unaccountable rise in
muletwist, and taking the subsequent fall in grey shirtings too late, I
have only realised a competency, while Bullion, who didn’t want it,
made at least twenty thou.? Or I wooed Fortune as a soldier, fond of
the profession, careless of climate, prodigal of my person, ramming
my head wherever there was a chance of having it knocked off,
“sticking to it like a leech, sir; never missing a day’s duty, by Jove!
while other fellows were getting on the staff, shooting up the country,
or going home on sick leave.” So I remain nothing but an overworked
field-officer, grim and grey, with an enlarged liver, and more red in my
nose than my cheeks, while Dawdle is a major-general commanding
in a healthy district, followed about by two aides-de-camp, enjoying a
lucrative appointment with a fair chance of military distinction. Shall I
therefore devote to the lowest pit of Acheron the Horse Guards, the
War Office, H.R.H. the Commander-in-Chief, and the service of Her
Majesty the Queen? How many briefless barristers must you multiply
to obtain a Lord Chancellor, or even a Chief Baron? How many
curates go to a bishop? How many village practitioners to a
fashionable doctor in a London-built brougham? Success in every
line, while it waits, to a certain extent, on perseverance and capacity,
partakes thus much in the nature of a lottery, that for one prize there
must be an incalculable number of blanks.
I will not go so far as to say that you should abstain from the liberal
professions of arts or arms, that you should refrain from taking your
ticket in the lottery, or in any way rest idly in mid-stream, glad to

“Loose the sail, shift the oar, let her float down,
Fleeting and gliding by tower and town;”

but I ask you to remember that the marshal’s baton can only be in
one conscript’s knapsack out of half a million; that wigs and mitres,
and fees every five minutes, fall only to one in ten thousand; that
although everybody has an equal chance in the lottery, that chance
may be described as but half a degree better than the cipher which
represents zero.
There is an aphorism in everybody’s mouth about the man who
goes to look for a straight stick in the wood. Hollies, elms, oaks,
ashes, and alders he inspects, sapling after sapling, in vain. This one
has a twist at the handle, that bends a little towards the point; some
are too thick for pliancy, some too thin for strength. Several would do
very well but for the abundant variety that affords a chance of finding
something better. Presently he emerges at the farther fence, having
traversed the covert from end to end, but his hands are still empty,
and he shakes his head, thinking he may have been over-fastidious
in his choice. A straight stick is no easier to find than would be a
four-leaved shamrock.
The man who goes to buy a town house or rent a place in the
country experiences the same difficulty. Up-stairs and down-stairs he
travels, inspecting kitchen-ranges, sinks and sculleries, attics,
bedrooms, boudoirs, and housemaids’ closets, till his legs ache, his
brain swims, and his temper entirely gives way. In London, if the
situation is perfect, there is sure to be no servants’ hall, or the
accommodation below-stairs leaves nothing to be desired, but he
cannot undertake to reside so far from his club. These difficulties
overcome, he discovers the butler’s pantry is so dark no servant of
that fastidious order will consent to stay with him a week. In the
country, if the place is pretty the neighbourhood may be
objectionable: the rent is perhaps delightfully moderate, but he must
keep up the grounds and pay the wages of four gardeners. Suitable
in every other respect, he cannot get the shooting; or if no such
drawbacks are to be alleged, there is surely a railway through the
park, and no station within five miles. Plenty of shamrocks grow, you
see, of the trefoil order, green, graceful, and perfectly symmetrical. It
is that fourth leaf he looks for, which creates all his difficulties.
The same with the gentleman in search of a horse, the same with
Cœlebs in search of a wife. If the former cannot be persuaded to put
up with some little drawback of action, beauty, or temper, he will
never know that most delightful of all partnerships, the sympathy
existing between a good horseman and his steed. If the latter
expects to find a perfection really exist, which he thinks he has
discovered while dazzled by the glamour surrounding a man in love,
he deserves to be disappointed, and he generally is. Rare, rare
indeed are the four-leaved shamrocks in either sex; thrice happy
those whom Fate permits to win and wear them even for a day!
What is it we expect to find? In this matter of marriage more than
in any other our anticipations are so exorbitant that we cannot be
surprised if our “come-down” is disheartening in proportion.

“Where is the maiden of mortal strain


That may match with the Baron of Triermain?
She must be lovely, constant, and kind,
Holy and pure, and humble of mind,” etc.

(How Sir Walter runs in my head to-night.) Yes, she must be all this,
and possess a thousand other good qualities, many more than are
enumerated by Iago, so as never to descend for a moment from the
pedestal on which her baron has set her up. Is this indulgent? is it
even reasonable? Can he expect any human creature to be always
dancing on the tight-rope? Why is Lady Triermain not to have her
whims, her temper, her fits of ill-humour, like her lord? She must not
indeed follow his example and relieve her mind by swearing “a good,
round, mouth-filling oath,” therefore she has the more excuse for
feeling at times a little captious, a little irritable, what she herself calls
a little cross. Did he expect she was an angel? Well, he often called
her one, nay, she looks like it even now in that pretty dress, says my
lord, and she smiles through her tears, putting her white arms round
his neck so fondly that he really believes he has found what he
wanted till they fall out again next time.
Men are very hard in the way of exaction on those they love. All
“take” seems their motto, and as little “give” as possible. If they
would but remember the golden rule and expect no more than
should be expected from themselves, it might be a better world for
everybody. I have sometimes wondered in my own mind whether
women do not rather enjoy being coerced and kept down. I have
seen them so false to a kind heart, and so fond of a cruel one. Are
they slaves by nature, do you conceive, or only hypocrites by
education? I suppose no wise man puzzles his head much on that
subject. They are all incomprehensible and all alike!
“How unjust!” exclaims Bones, interrupting me with more vivacity
than usual. “How unsupported an assertion, how sweeping an
accusation, how unfair, how unreasonable, and how like a man! Yes,
that is the way with every one of you; disappointed in a single
instance, you take refuge from your own want of judgment, your own
mismanagement, your own headlong stupidity, in the condemnation
of half the world! You open a dozen oysters, and turn away
disgusted because you have not found a pearl. You fall an easy prey
to the first woman who flatters you, and plume yourself on having
gained a victory without fighting a battle. The fortress so easily won
is probably but weakly garrisoned, and capitulates ere long to a fresh
assailant. When this has happened two or three times, you veil your
discomfiture under an affectation of philosophy and vow that women
are all alike, quoting perhaps a consolatory scrap from Catullus—

‘Quid levius plumâ? pulvis. Quid pulvere? ventus.


Quid vento? mulier. Quid muliëre? nihil?’

But Roman proverbs and Roman philosophy are unworthy and


delusive. There is a straight stick in the wood if you will be satisfied
with it when found; there is a four-leaved shamrock amongst the
herbage if you will only seek for it honestly on your knees. Should
there be but one in a hundred women, nay, one in a thousand, on
whom an honest heart is not thrown away, it is worth while to try and
find her. At worst, better be deceived over and over again than sink
into that deepest slough of depravity in which those struggle who,
because their own trust has been outraged, declare there is no faith
to be kept with others; because their own day has been darkened,
deny the existence of light.
“You speak feelingly,” I observe, conscious that such unusual
earnestness denotes a conviction he will get the worst of the debate.
“You have perhaps been more fortunate than the rest. Have you
found her, then, this hundredth woman, this prize, this pearl, this
black swan, glorious as the phœnix and rare as the dodo? Forgive
my argumentum ad hominem, if I may use the expression, and
forgive my urging that such good fortune only furnishes one of those
exceptions which, illogical people assert, prove the rule.” There is a
vibration of his teeth wanting only lips to become a sneer, while he
replies—
“In my own case I was not so lucky, but I kept my heart up and
went on with my search to the end.”
“Exactly,” I retort in triumph; “you, too, spent a lifetime looking for
the four-leaved shamrock, and never found it after all. But I think
women are far more unreasonable than ourselves in this desire for
the unattainable, this disappointment when illusion fades into reality.
Not only in their husbands do they expect perfection, and that, too, in
defiance of daily experience, of obvious incompetency, but in their
servants, their tradespeople, their carriages, their horses, their
rooms, their houses, the dinners they eat, and the dresses they
wear. With them an avowal of incapacity to reconcile impossibilities
stands for wilful obstinacy, or sheer stupidity at best. They believe
themselves the victims of peculiar ill-fortune if their coachman gets
drunk, or their horses go lame; if milliners are careless or ribbons
unbecoming; if chimneys smoke, parties fall through, or it rains when
they want to put on a new bonnet. They never seem to understand
that every ‘if’ has its ‘but,’ every pro its con. My old friend, Mr.
Bishop, of Bond Street, the Democritus of his day (and may he live
as long!), observed to me many years ago, when young people went
mad about the polka, that the new measure was a type of everything
else in life, ‘What you gain in dancing you lose in turning round.’ Is it
not so with all our efforts, all our undertakings, all our noblest
endeavours after triumph and success? In dynamics we must be
content to resign the maximum of one property that we may preserve
the indispensable minimum of another, must allow for friction in
velocity, must calculate the windage of a shot. In ethics we must
accept fanaticism with sincerity, exaggeration with enthusiasm, over-
caution with unusual foresight, and a giddy brain with a warm,
impulsive heart. What we take here we must give yonder; what we
gain in dancing we must lose in turning round!
“But no woman can be brought to see this obvious necessity. For
the feminine mind nothing is impracticable. Not a young lady eating
bread and butter in the school-room but cherishes her own vision of
the prince already riding through enchanted forests in her pursuit.
The prince may turn out to be a curate, a cornet, or a count, a duke
or a dairy-farmer, a baronet or a blacking-maker, that has nothing to
do with it. Relying on her limitless heritage of the possible, she feels
she has a prescriptive right to the title, the ten thousand a year, the
matrimonial prize, the four-leaved shamrock. Whatever else turns
up, she considers herself an ill-used woman for life, unless all the
qualities desirable in man are found united in the person and
fortunes of her husband; nay, he must even possess virtues that can
scarce possibly co-exist. He must be handsome and impenetrable,
generous and economical, gay and domestic, manly but never from
her side, wise yet deferring to her opinion in all things, quick-sighted,
though blind to any drawbacks or shortcomings in herself. Above all,
must he be superlatively content with his lot, and unable to discover
that by any means in his matrimonial venture, ‘what he gained in
dancing he has lost in turning round.’
“I declare to you I think if Ursidius[2] insists on marrying at all, that
he had better select a widow; at least he runs at even weights
against his predecessor, who, being a man, must needs have
suffered from human weakness and human infirmities. The chances
are that the dear departed went to sleep after dinner, hated an open
carriage, made night hideous with his snores under the connubial
counterpane, and all the rest of it. A successor can be no worse,
may possibly appear better; but if he weds a maiden, he has to
contend with the female ideal of what a man should be! and from
such a contest what can accrue but unmitigated discomfiture and
disgrace?
“Moreover, should he prove pre-eminent in those manly qualities
women most appreciate, he will find that even in those they prefer to
accept the shadow for the substance, consistently mistaking
assertion for argument, volubility for eloquence, obstinacy for
resolution, bluster for courage, fuss for energy, and haste for speed.
“On one of our greatest generals, remarkable for his gentle,
winning manner in the drawing-room as for his cool daring in the
field, before he had earned his well-merited honours, I myself heard
this verdict pronounced by a jury of maids and matrons: ‘Dear! he’s
such a quiet creature, I’m sure he wouldn’t be much use in a battle!’
No; give them Parolles going to recover his drum, and they have a
champion and a hero exactly to their minds, but they would scarcely
believe in Richard of the Lion-Heart if he held his peace and only set
his teeth hard when he laid lance in rest.
“Therefore it is they tug so unmercifully at the slender thread that
holds a captive, imagining it is by sheer strength the quiet creature
must be coerced. Some day the pull is harder than usual, the thread
breaks, and the wild bird soars away, free as the wind down which it
sails, heedless of lure and whistle, never to return to bondage any
more. Then who so aghast as the pretty, thoughtless fowler, longing
and remorseful, with the broken string in her hand?
“She fancied, no doubt, her prisoner was an abnormal creature,
rejoicing in ill-usage; that because it was docile and generous it must
therefore be poor in spirit, slavish in obedience, and possessing no
will of its own. She thought she had found a four-leaved shamrock,
and this is the result!
“But I may talk for ever and end where I began. Men you may
convince by force of argument, if your logic is very clear and your
examples or illustrations brought fairly under their noses; but with the
other sex, born to be admired and not instructed, you might as well
pour water into a sieve. Can you remember a single instance in
which with these, while a word of entreaty gained your point
forthwith, you might not have exhausted a folio of argument in vain?”
He thinks for a minute, and then answers deliberately, as if he had
made up his mind—
“I never knew but one woman who could understand reason, and
she wouldn’t listen to it!”
CHAPTER VIII
RUS IN URBE

Romæ Tibur Amem, ventosus. Tibure Romam! quoth the Latin


satirist, ridiculing his own foibles, like his neighbour’s, with the
laughing, half-indulgent banter that makes him the pleasantest, the
chattiest, and the most companionable of classic writers. How he
loved the cool retirement of his Sabine home, its grassy glades, its
hanging woodlands, its fragrant breezes wandering and whispering
through those summer slopes, rich in the countless allurements of a
landscape that—

“Like Albunea’s echoing fountain,


All my inmost heart hath ta’en;
Give me Anio’s headlong torrent,
And Tiburnus’ grove and hills,
And its orchards sparkling dewy,
With a thousand wimpling rills,”

as Theodore Martin translates his Horace, or thus, according to Lord


Ravensworth—

“Like fair Albunea’s sybil-haunted hall,


By rocky Anio’s echoing waterfall,
And Tibur’s orchards and high-hanging wood,
Reflected graceful in the whirling flood.”

His lordship, you observe, who can himself write Latin lyrics as
though he had drunk with Augustus, and capped verses with Ovid,
makes the second syllable of Albunea long, and a very diffuse
argument might be held on this disputed quantity. Compare these
with the original, and say which you like best—

“Quam domus Albuneæ resonantis,

You might also like