[stephenhuey]

While I agree with some of your points, I must take issue with your implication that white people ran Africa better.

http://diglib1.amnh.org/articles/kls/

Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain did a good job illuminating how people tended to think this way, all the while forgetting that the people under a heavy thumb might not agree! Some things may have been better organized when white people were in power, but the German concentration camps of World War II were also "better run" by some definitions than a bickering gaggle of democratically elected disagreeing men in nearby European countries, and I don't think we'd really use them as an example of better run. I grew up partially in Nigeria, the target of many jokes, and no matter what issues they have there I know that many Nigerians who would never wish for a return to British rule.

[VLM]

Sounds like both of us rephrase the same priority list, or at least nothing either of us wrote breaks the priority list:

1st) Freedom or self determination or at least less control over their lives by people far away

2nd) Racism (people want their leaders the same color as they are)

A distant 3rd) Measurable statistical demographic numbers for quality of life, like disease rates, death rates, crime rates, economic activity, education levels, etc.

I would propose this priority list is human, cross cultural, doesn't matter if its Rhodesia, Haiti, India, Korea, people naturally seem to come up with this sort order no matter the culture.