I remember ten years ago when I researched the politics in African countries for a class assignment. The research was not an elaborate project, and I did not grasp the full historical movement that is continuously shaping the countries in Africa today. But, I remember ending my research by hopefully proposing that there might be hope for good government in the developing parts of Africa.

Unfortunately, history seems to like repeating itself in order to show the world that humanity hasn’t learned from the past. The Republic of Niger recently had a coup by the military leaders. From reading various news articles, the previous civilian government did not seemed to fair well with the public, and the previous President was heavily criticized for extending his Presidential terms beyond the rules in the Constitution.

Thus, the military was fed up with the civilian government and decided to oust civilian government officials. The situation is tense in the region as the world is monitoring whether the military junta would keep its promise and have free elections for the next civilian government.

But the hope for good government is becoming more distant as the cycle of corrupted civilian government and military take over continues on for these African states. The main problem is that the economies in this region seemed to be fueling frustration by the citizens. With government already plagued by corruption, it was a matter of time until a new revolutionary event like a coup change the direction of politics once more.

In the most realistic terms, I do not think we can get rid of corruption in any government. However, developing African countries can move closer to good government if their economies improve in the long run. With a military take over hampering foreign investments, the next civilian government needs to take a serious focus on economic development and win the legitimacy from its citizens.

From there, a little corruption wouldn’t cause another military coup, although getting rid of corruption in its entirety seem to be a more appealing idea.

The New York Times have reported that Toyota is planning to issue a fix for the sticky accelerator pedal problem for the effected car models. Although Toyota has just recently become the number one car company in the world, the mass recall due to the accelerator pedal problem has hurt the company worldwide.

Toyota is a Japanese company, but they are facing a global market. Due to the size of the company, the next move Toyota makes could either bring stability or a drastic down turn to the fragile Japanese market. The critical issue for Toyota here is not the accelerator pedal problem per se but the way company reaches out to the customers in addressing the issue: Public Relations.

For a couple of days, the company response in the United States has been chaotic. It seems the chain of command is confused as to how to address the problem to the public. Even the car dealers are not sure to whether certain cars are affected by the pedal problem. It almost seems as if Toyota is ignoring the problem all together, from the eyes of American consumers.

On the other hand, the couple of days of silence seemed to be a sign that Toyota is planning an effective solution, closed doors. Unlike a typical American company, Toyota seems to be more focused on gathering a great plan in solving the problem and executing it in one shot, opposed to giving a minute by minute update on the situation.

For the current development, I cannot tell what is really going on in Toyota’s minds, but I know the outcome of Toyota’s Public Relations strategy will determine the future fate of not only the company but also the Japanese economy.

The good news is that many people seemed to be not abandoning the Toyota brand for now, so hopefully the Japanese car company could use this opportunity to solidify their place in the car industry. If not, the Korean and the Chinese car companies are always ready to become the leading car company in the world.