The nation of Wakanda may be a technologically advanced place, but it is a dictatorship. A benevolent dictatorship perhaps, but a dictatorship nonetheless. In these panels from Black Panther we see Wakanda transitioning from a monarchy to a democracy. The change is not costless as T’Challa is reluctant to give up power, and those arrayed against him are willing to go to extreme measures to ensure the process doesn’t stall. This will inevitably have negative short-term economic consequences as resources are destroyed and people die. In the long run a more free society should have higher standards of living, but there will be pain getting there.
If the dictator won’t go quietly, then violence might be the result. Some say that rebuilding after the war might be good for GDP. This is known as the broken window fallacy. If political upheaval leads to war as we seen in these panels, resources that could have been used for development are utilized to rebuild things that used to exist. Wakanda is going to have a lot of rebuilding to do after the civil war, but does that really help GDP?
(Click on the cover below to see the comic panels.)
Thanks for sharing. I read many of your blog posts, cool, your blog is very good.