the politics of presentation and representation of Africa
I am not particularly keen on these debates but here you go…Filed under: africa Tagged: media politics, Politics
View Articlepresident kibaki to resign and call for fresh elections
Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki has announced that he will resign and call snap elections. Mr. Kibaki cited wrangling within the cabinet and the failure to tackle corruption and poor governance as his...
View Articlejkia has free internet!
The last time I had free wireless at an airport was in Hartford, Connecticut. I am therefore absolutely delighted to be able to blog as I wait for my flight to London tonight. I am not looking forward...
View Articlethe ingredients of development
I am in the middle of writing a piece contrasting a subset of African and non-African dictatorships over the last half century. As most of you might know, quite a number of African countries have been...
View Articlekenya: a model of conservative revolution?
An ambitious project is in the works to build a new city from scratch in Kenya, a sign that things are indeed changing in the economic engine of the wider eastern African region. The stock market voted...
View Articlethe central african republic, forever failing
update: For a history of the CAR read this: History of CAR The Central African Republic (CAR) is perhaps the biggest joke as far as states within the international system go. Francois Bozize, the...
View Articlekenya is not in a constitutional crisis
Kenya’s newly emboldened imperial parliament is up to some mischief. MPs rejected nominees to two crucial commissions created by the country’s new constitution: the Revenues Allocation Commission and...
View Articlediscussing egypt
I just attended a discussion session with Stanford scholars Lisa Blaydes (Political Scientist) and Joel Beinin (Historian) on the recent uprising in Egypt. The structural factors leading to the revolt...
View ArticleRational Impatience and marshmallows (and development)
Back in 1972 Stanford psychologist Walter Mischel conducted experiments in which he claimed to show a correlation between patience and later success in life – in the experiment kids who could wait for...
View ArticleWhat does it mean to be “tough on crime”?
This is from Alex Tabarrok over at MR: Our focus on prisons over police may be crazy but it is consistent with what I called Gary Becker’s Greatest Mistake, the idea that an optimal punishment system...
View ArticleWhen Markets Discipline Politics
President Jacob Zuma continues to be in conflict with his own Finance Minister, Pravin Gordham, over fiscal policy (and propriety in the management of public finances). The markets trust the latter....
View ArticleWhat do you do when the government refuses to pave the local road?
Residents of Webuye West in the southwest of Kenya did this: Filed under: africa Tagged: bungoma, bungoma county, Infrastructure, Ken Lusaka, Kenya, Politics, Road, Webuye, Webuye West, western province
View ArticleWhy is Mugabe Still in Power?
Zoe Samudzi provides some excellent answers to the question of why President Robert Mugabe has had such staying power despite the many political and economic upheavals that have beset Zimbawe since the...
View ArticleCash and Markets in Development
This is from a story in Kenya’s Standard Newspaper: Martin Wepukhulu is a small-holder farmer in Trans Nzoia County, popularly described as Kenya’s breadbasket. To produce a two-kilogramme tin of maize...
View ArticleA short guide for academic researchers working in African states
This is by Keguro Macharia over at The New Inquiry: You are a researcher, not a tourist. Don’t act like a tourist. Do not be condescending. Do not tell your hosts that they are “clever” or “bright” or...
View ArticleHow to overthrow the Kenyan government in twelve steps
Form a hopelessly fractious political coalition on the back of four years of doing nothing with county governments to demonstrate your chops at transformative governance. Successfully push for...
View ArticleThese results raise the possibility that correlations between linguistic...
This is from a paper by Tom Pepinsky: Whorfian socioeconomics is an emerging interdisciplinary field of study that holds that linguistic structures explain differences in beliefs, values, and opinions...
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