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This text utilizes theoretical perspectives to describe and explain central dimensions of the democratic transition in South Africa during the late-1980s and early-1990s, covering changes in the politics of gender and education, the political discourses of the ANC, NP and the white right, constructions of identity in South Africa's black townships and rural areas, the role of political violence in the transition, and accounts of the democratization process itself. ... Read more

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Essays on conflict, class and the post-colonial state in Africa. ... Read more

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The author of two previous books on African political culture, David Laitin turns in this book to the study of language planning in Africa and the role of language politics in the process of state formation. Written in an engaging style, the book takes the reader into the complex web of language use in Africa today, where the average citizen must employ a multitude of different languages for use in the home, at school, in the marketplace, and on the job. African state governments must confront a number of difficult questions concerning language, such as which language of many should be the official national language--if any--and which language should be used in schools. Decisions on these questions are shown to be an important part of the process of state formation, and by making comparison to European cases, Laitin asks whether the complexity of language use in Africa today is symptomatic of early state construction, and if so, whether states must move inevitably toward a common language as they develop. He uses the logic of game theory to argue that a common language is not the inevitable solution, and proposes that in Africa the optimal solution to the language problem will be what he calls a 3 + 1 outcome, which will allow for multiple language use. ... Read more

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A comparative study of African systems of governance, "Predatory Rule" argues that, in spite of contradictory practices and institutional clashes, state and civil society are two aspects of an organic totality. Fatton attempts to move beyond the bifurcated understanding of African politics as a field of deadly struggles on which a "soft" authoritarian state opposes an emerging democratic civil society. His alternative conceptualisation of the African social order is based on the dialectical interdependence osf state and civil society. Examining how the state functions as the governing classes' structure of dominance and as the principal instrument of their predatory rule, he explores how, in resisting the incursions of the state, civil society offers autonomous venues for the collective expression of subordinate class grievances, while paradoxically fortifying the governing classes' dominance. "Predatory Rule" also addresses how the dialectical interaction between state and civil society creates contradictory processes of class formation and disarticulation. Fatton suggests that such processes both foster and undermine democratic forms of governance throughout the continent. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

A good read for anyone who to be educated on the governments of this great continent
Africa south of the Sahara is usually wrongfully ignored when it comes to world politics. "Africa in World Politics: Reforming Political Order" is an examination of Africa's current political troubles and how it can shake off its current turmoil and move ahead and embrace prosperity, something it has struggled to do since the Europeans have departed around fifty years ago. Critical of Africa's problems but rife with optimism for the future, "Africa in World Politics" is a good read for anyone who to be educated on the governments of this great continent.
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Radical changes have taken place in Africa since 1990. What are the realities of these changes? What significant differences have emerged between African countries? What is the future for democracy in the continent?The editors have chosen eleven key countries to provide enlightening comparisons and contrasts to stimulate discussion among students. They have brought together a team of scholars who are actively working in the changing Africa of today. Each chapter is structured around a framing event which defines the experience of democratisation. The editors have provided an overview of the turning points in African politics. They engage with debates on how to study and evaluate democracy in Africa, such as the limits of elections. They identify four major themes with which to examine similarities and divergences as well as to explain change and continuity in what happened in the past.Abdul Raufu Mustapha is University Lecturer in African Politics at Queen Elizabeth House and Kirk-Greene Fellow at St Antony's College, University of Oxford; Lindsay Whitfield is a Research Fellow at the Danish Institute of International Studies, Copenhagen. ... Read more

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Until the late 1980s, there were very few democratically elected governments in the developing world. These areas were characterized by a range of authoritarian regimes from military administrations to one-party dictatorships. Over the past decade, however, the situation has altered significantly and an increasing number of developing countries have made the transition to democracy. For some, this process of building and consolidating democracy has been relatively easy, while for others, it has proved more complex and harder to sustain.


In this important new textbook, Jeff Haynes seeks to explain why these differences occur. Adopting a broadly comparative approach, he begins by examining the theories and practice of democratic transition and consolidation in the new democracies of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. Haynes argues persuasively that a country's ability to consolidate democracy depends not only on the interaction of structural and agency factors, but also on a variety of specific domestic and international concerns which may help or hinder democratic progress. Using a wide range of case studies to illustrate his argument, Haynes provides an accessible and comprehensive analysis of the processes and problems of democratic consolidation in developing nations.


This is an important textbook that will be invaluable to students in a variety of areas from politics and comparative politics to development studies and history. ... Read more

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A comprehensive study of recent African history, examining the political, social, and economic effects of colonialism. ... Read more

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Knowledge management (KM) has been burgeoning in importance during the last one and half decades. Both profit making and non-profit making organizations have had to continue to embrace and practice KM. This study was set with the broad aim of investigating the practices, procedures and challenges of managing knowledge in government agencies in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Objectives of the studywere: to assess the extent to which government-owned organizations in sub-Saharan Africa practice knowledge management; find out the extent to which the organizations are ?learning organizations;? establish how the organizations determine the knowledge they require and the formats in which it should be delivered; find out whether and the extent to which individual organizational members in the organizations are motivated to contribute to knowledge creation and sharing; and discover the major managerial challenges and problems that the government-owned organizations in SSA face in managing knowledge. This is an important study for researchers, academics and those charged with formulating and implementing public policies in SSA. ... Read more

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"Understanding Contemporary Africa" is a multidisciplinary book that can be used as a core text in "Introduction to Africa" courses and also as a supplemental reader in various discipline-oriented courses. The authors concentrate on the crucial issues facing Africa in the 1990s: there is a thorough treatment not only of politics, economics, and history, but also of women and development, the family, population and urbanization, the environment, religion, and literature. Each topic is covered in depth and on the basis of the latest available scholarship. Showing how Africa's past has shaped its present and examining the major forces now shaping the Africa of the next century, "Understanding Contemporary Africa" focuses on the themes most vital to an awareness of the African experience in all of its diversity and complexity. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Great!
Great condition, just like I was told
Received book in timely manner
Overall, great experience!

Contemporary Africa at Cal Poly Pomona
"Understanding Contemporary Africa" has not been very useful in the context of Comparative African Politics at Cal Poly Pomona. While the text has interesting summaries about African politics and can help as an introductory resource, there seems to be far superior books. It is fairly easy to read and there is quite a bit of cursory information compiled for introductory insight, which makes it ideal for introduction or review of African politics. But do not expect thorough explanations of applicable theories that try to explain the roots of African modernity.

"Understanding Contemporary Africa" is a lot like a tour guide for college students with just enough information to get you into trouble.

For PLS 442 at Cal Poly Pomona, Comparitive Politics of Sub-Saharan Africa, it is used little and discussed even less. It is possible to go without this book for Obazuaye's class.

An Excellent Introduction to a Fascinating Continent
I loved this book.It's extremely well-written, sensitive, and demonstrates a wealth of knowledge about African cultures, politics, religions, economies, gender relations, and, in one of the best chapters in the book, literature.You don't often see such a skillful sketch of the impressive African novels and poems that have been written in the past few generations.

This is the perfect book to assign to students who have no exposure to anything African (which, unfortunately, is most undergraduates).Although it's an introduction to the topic, those who know a great deal about it will find that almost all of it resonates with the other literature they have read, whether historical, political, or otherwise.It's a very compassionate and progressive look at Africa.All modern challenges to the continent are presented so that students get a multi-dimensional look at Africa's struggles.Environmental and agricultural problems are presented in tandem with economic and political ones, so that students will have a real context in which to put all future readings about Africa.But unlike so many African books, the text provides sections such as the one on literature, to show that Africa has many achievements, instead of focusing only on negativity, as unfortunately many books on the topic do.At the same time, it does not gloss over the tragedies on the continent and their causes, and difficult topics such as the AIDS crisis are treated in a sensitive manner.

It is a great book and I can't imagine there's one better out there.However, were I to make suggestions to the editors they would be the following:

1. The historical section could be slightly larger.The historical context is dealt with in one chapter, and yet a more extensive discussion of certain historical events would help students better understand some of the continent's present difficulties.

2. The literature section could be extended to include popular culture, music, every day entertainments, festivals, etc.Students would enjoy some additional stories showing the richness of so many African cultures.Although the literature section does this, it could do so more thoroughly.

3. The economic section would benefit from more success stories.Although it has an excellent discussion of the crushing debt burden and the role of international financial institutions in African economies, which students must know about, it would help to see some dicussions not just of how local business and initiative is stifled, but descriptions of these businesses.

I've read some fascinating things about African entrepreneurship and ingenuity in industry against all kinds of odds.Although many of these efforts were stifled by the state, I think students would benefit from knowing about dynamic efforts such as these.



3

Understanding Contemporary Africa
Understanding Contemporary Africa is a general textbook that is perfect for introductory courses in African studies.Authors of the various chapters are university-level scholars and teachers of history, political science, sociology, religion, and African studies.The subjects covered are African history, politics, national economies, international relations, population growth and urbanization, the environment, familial structures, women's effect in society, religion, and literature.There is an entire chapter devoted to South Africa.

This book contains many helpful references.Full page maps are near the beginning of the book, showing major physical features, the ITCZ and vegetation zones, natural resources compared to railroads and navigable rivers, early states and empires, colonies in 1914, and current countries and their capitals.I needed to refer to them often enough that I put a paperclip on the pages.Table 5.1 is a current export chart.Each chapter ends in a lengthy bibliography for further study.At the end of the book, acronyms are defined and there is a thorough glossary to which I referred many times.Basic Political Data is the third appendix.Each country is traced from independence to the present day in terms of its leaders.

Although the book suffers from sweeping generalizations, many times these are acknowledged by the authors.There are too few examples of these generalizations for my own taste.I personally prefer more "real people" stories to demonstrate points being made.This does not detract from the excellence of this intended introductory textbook for college-level African studies courses.

The last chapter of the book leaves the reader on the upbeat.There is hope for Africa in the current generation of young, educated middle and upper class men and women.They are seeing a bright future for Africa with hope in place of despair.Autocrats are being replaced with democratic leaders.Small businesses are on the rise; this is always a healthy sign in an economy.Health services and public education have increased since independence.The book closes with the observation that it will take a world partnership with Africa to make things work to neutralize the long term effects of exploitation of the African continent. ... Read more

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In the later decades of the 20th century, Africa plunged into political chaos. States failed, governments became predators, and citizens took up arms. In When Things Fell Apart, Robert H. Bates advances an explanation of state failure in Africa. In so doing, he not only plumbs the depths of the continent's late-century tragedy, but also the logic of political order and the foundations of the state. This book covers a wide range of territory by drawing on materials from Rwanda, Sudan, Liberia, and Congo. Written to be accessible to the general reader, it is nonetheless a must-read for scholars and policy makers concerned with political conflict and state failure. ... Read more

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serious doubts of African governments
Robert Bates's When Things Fell Apart raises serious doubts of African governments. Bates, a professor of gov­ern­ment at Harvard, reviews the failures of African governments over the past few decades, demonstrating a strong link between the push for democratization and the failure of governments to deliver the goods. "Electoral competition and state failure go together," he shrewdly observes, noting that in numerous Afri­can ­countries--­Rwanda among ­them--­where democratic re­forms threatened established re­gimes, political disorder resulted. Certainly in Kagame's view, three and a half decades of majority rule appear to have led inexorably to genocide. Bates's argument, however, is nuanced. He sug­gests that repression may pre­vent ­disorder--­and thus deliver Africans physical ­security--­but without delivering prosperity. "Poverty," he concludes, "becomes the price of security."

an interesting model with a hodgepodge of evidence
In this short book (174 pages of text; 139 if you skip the quantitative appendix), Bates argues that state failure stems from predation on the part of the central government.His model, to put it briefly (and inadequately), is that governments can either take revenues from the people (1) in the form of taxes while providing services (such as security) or (2) in the form of predation.As long as the benefits of the former outweigh the latter (for example, when a government is assured of staying in power for a long time), the government will maintain security.However, if the long run is less certain, the government may sacrifice steady long-term gains in favor of larger short-term gains from predation.

Bates starts with an extended, insightful exposition of this metaphor (Chapter Two).Then he characterizes the conditions that prevailed prior to collapse in many African countries in chapters three (political trends), four (bad economic policies), and five (tensions between groups in the countries).In Chapter Six he describes the state failures.The conclusion sums it up, and the appendix gives some statistical evidence (the rest of the evidence is anecdotal or - Bates's preferred term - narrative).

Overall I found the book slow reading (despite its brevity) and not as coherent as I'd have liked.The basic model is useful but I often found it unclear in the succeeding chapters how the many pieces of narrative evidence fit into the model.The clearest example of this was in Chapter Five, where three models of subnational tensions were presented followed by several examples that did not clearly fit the models.

Further, the form of narrative evidence (lots of different examples from various countries) felt less effective to me than either a detailed case study of one example or systematic statistical evidence.(If I had pre-existing intimate familiarity with the national histories, this would have been less of an issue)The statistical annex provides the latter but deserved more space: some integration of statistical findings with narrative evidence might have worked better.(As it was, the statistical annex left me with a number of clarifying questions.)Bates argues that he distinguishes himself from other work in the area by deriving his hypothesis from a theory rather than highlighting empirical "findings" (p8-9).*And yet Bates - in his empirical appendix - reports atheoretical findings such as the increasing likelihood of disorder over time (despite controlling for changes that should drive the changing likelihood) - p171-173.Finally, Bates doesn't devote any time to states that didn't experience state failure and why or how they differed, nor to rival theories and how they fare in light of the national narratives.

As a novice considering whether to read a book like this, the ideal would be to read at least two reviews: one from an expert (who can opine as to how this fits - or doesn't - with existing knowledge) and one from a novice (who can tell how this may read to another novice).I fall in the latter category.In the former, Chris Blattman (an economics professor in Yale's political science department) blogged, "It's short, it's readable, and it's intelligent.Normally if I get just two of the three, I'm thrilled" [1].A political scientist I know called it an "excellent primer."And Nicholas Van De Walle (author of the highly esteemed African Economies and the Politics of Permanent Crisis, 1979-1999) wrote a brief review for Foreign Affairs, summarizing and concluding that "Bates paints in broad brushes and ignores the states in the region, such as Botswana, Cape Verde, and Mauritius, that have not followed this script but actually enjoyed stability, economic growth, and reasonably democratic politics" [2].

Perhaps this volume is most readable to the already initiated.But it is short and imparts a significant amount of valuable information; I recommend Chapters 2 and 6.

[1] Chris Blattman's blog [easily searchable on-line], "When things fell apart," 19 July 2008.

[2] Nicholas Van De Walle, "Africa," Foreign Affairs, May/June 2008.

* I assume by this he means an explicit, chapter-long theory.Other work I've read in this area, by Collier or by Miguel, clearly has a theoretical basis even if not as formally stated as Bates's. ... Read more

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This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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Global Studies is a unique series designed to provide comprehensive background information and selected world press articles on the regions and countries of the world. Each Global Studies volume includes an annotated listing of World Wide Web sites and is now supported by an online Instructor's Resource Guide.Visit our website for more information: www.mhhe.com/globalstudies.com. ... Read more

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State collapse is one of the major threats to peace, stability, and economic development in Sub-Sahara Africa today. In a collapsed state the regime finally wears out its ability to satisfy the demands of the various groups in society, fails to govern and to keep the state together. The collapse is marked by the loss of control over political and economic space. A collapsed state can no longer perform its basic security and development functions and has no effective control over its territory and borders. Major challenges confront efforts to avoid collapsed states drawing other countries into a wider conflict and to create structures and favorable conditions to lead to national reconciliation and the reconstruction of a state that has collapsed. The Cornell Institute for African Development called a symposium entitled 'Failed and failing states in Africa: lessons from Darfur and beyond' to address these critical issues at the Institute for African Development, Cornell University April 18-19, 2008. Key contributions at the symposium are brought together in this volume. Taken together these essays represent a significant discussion on the challenges presented by the presence of failed and failing states within Africa. ... Read more