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Democratic Trajectories in Africa
ISBN/GTIN

Democratic Trajectories in Africa

E-bookPDFDRM AdobeE-book
EUR101,99

Product description

Despite impressive economic growth rates over the last decade, foreign aid still plays a significant role in Africa's political economies. This book asks when, why, and how foreign aid has facilitated, or hindered, democratization in sub-Saharan Africa. Instead of looking at foreign aid as a monolithic resource, the book examines the disparate impacts of aid specifically intended for development outcomes and aid explicitly aimed at democracy promotion. Careful attention is also given to examining the role of various aid modalities, including general budget support, and the influence of non-traditional donors. In doing so, the authors use a combination of cross-country quantitative analyses and in-depth case studies of Benin, Ghana, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia based on recent interviews with donors, government officials, and civil society organizations. Unlike other work on aid and democracy, the book carefully considers how foreign aid affects various elements of the democratization process, including transitions to multiparty systems and democratic consolidation. In terms of the latter, the authors analyse what role different types of aid play in avoiding a breakdown of multiparty democracy or an erosion of civil liberties, reinforcing parliaments and judiciaries, promoting free and fair elections and a vibrant civil society, and encouraging competitive party systems. Overall, the authors' findings suggest that the best means for enhancing the effectiveness of aid for development outcomes is not always the most optimal way of promoting democratic consolidation, and the book provides policy recommendations to try and reconcile these trade-offs.
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Details

Additional ISBN/GTIN9780191509803
Product TypeE-book
BindingE-book
FormatPDF
Format noteDRM Adobe
FormatE107
Publishing date31/10/2013
SeriesWIDER Studies in Development Economics
LanguageEnglish
File size2356 Kbytes
Article no.5451771
CatalogsVC
Data source no.418046
Product groupBU730
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This book has had something of a miraculous resurrection. A few months ago, it looked like it could well be pulped and its author sued for libel after one of his subjects took offence at a less than flattering portrait. British libel laws are such that a writer facing an oligarch in court is not felt to stand much of a chance and there was a strong feeling in the publishing world that Tom Burgis would be required to cough up a considerable sum of cash. For once however, the British courts sided with the little guy and dismissed the case, allowing this excellent book to continue its life out in the wild. Although technical and at times a bit opaque on financial detail, it is an extremely well put together account of how dodgy money (very often channelled through London) can be moved around the world and continuing enriching both its very questionable owners and their willing accessories.
Ein Freund sagte einmal, nachdem er sich durch einen Text von Zizek gearbeitet hatte, dass es doch erstaunlich sei, in welchen Regionen sich manche Menschen bewegen und trotzdem noch in der Lage seien, feste Nahrung zu sich zu nehmen: Zizek-Lektüre ist harte Arbeit. Zizek ist Psychoanalytiker, Philosoph, Filmtheoretiker und Kommunist. Er macht es einem wahrlich nicht leicht, schreibt komplex, meinungsfreudig und erfreut sich an der Provokation. Sein neuestes Buch lässt jedoch kaum Raum für Missverständnisse zu und ist ausgesprochen klar und pointiert. Er fordert eine tatkräftigere Linke, die sich neu formieren muss, um den drängenden Problemen der Zeit zu begegnen. Von der kapitalistischen Weltordnung seien angesichts der globalen Bedrohungen keine Lösungen zu erwarten, von den diversen populistischen Bewegungen schon gar nicht. Ohne eine neue Wirtschaftsordnung sei die Zukunft nicht zu bewältigen. Keine neuen Töne von Zizek, aber selten mit einer solchen Klarheit formuliert.
When the draft to her first novel gets stolen in a robbery, Lasley impulsively upends her life in London and moves to Aberdeen to talk to men in Scotland, who work on oil rigs. Her long year of pub interviews with these workers is shot through by the story of her obssessive affair with Caden, the first oil rig worker she interviews.
The strongest part by far are the snippets of insights into life on the oil rig, the specific lingo and rythm of life offshore in an all male environment. In her own words, Lasley wanted to find out what men are like with no women around. This query gives the book, especially in the passages about the affair, a curiously misogynist angle. At times I found myself reminded of Lisa Taddeo's chronicles of love lives of three American women. Books like these are often heralded for showing 'female desire' when in fact it more often depicts are certain type of needy, unhealthy attachment style. Personally, less pining and more reporting would have pleased me.
There are a number of books one could read to try and make sense of the current situation but this one is definitely a good place to start. Originally published seven years ago, it chronicles Pomerantsev's experiences in the early noughties, when he was pursuing a career in Russian TV production. His highly readable account focuses on several cultural phenomena, such as the gangster turned film producer, the rise of Russia Today and the deeply ingrained corruption. I suspect this was once a more light-hearted read but in the light of recent events, it is almost scarily prescient and underlines once again the argument, that the war on Ukraine shouldn't really be a surprise but is rather the result of a development that someone could already knowledgably write about in 2014.

Author

Danielle Resnick is a Research Fellow at the United Nations University-World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER). Her research focuses on democratization, political parties, voting behaviour, and the political economy of development in sub-Saharan Africa. She is the author of Urban Poverty and Party Populism in African Democracies (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming). She received her PhD in Government from Cornell University in 2010 and previously worked at the World Bank and the International Food Policy Research Institute. Nicolas van de Walle is the Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Government at Cornell University in Ithaca New York. He taught at Michigan State University from 1990 to 2004. He has published widely on democratization issues as well as on the politics of economic reform and on the effectiveness of foreign aid, with special focus on Africa. His books include Overcoming Stagnation in Aid-Dependent Countries (Center for Global Development, 2005), African Economies and The Politics of Permanent Crisis, 1979-1999 (Cambridge University Press, 2001), and Democratic Experiments in Africa: Regime Transitions in Comparative Perspectives (with M. Bratton, Cambridge University Press, 1997). He is also the author of over a hundred journal articles, reports, and book chapters. In addition, Professor van de Walle has worked extensively as a consultant for a variety of international and multilateral organizations, including the World Bank, USAID, and UNDP. He received his PhD from Princeton University in 1990.