Government 1197: The Political Economy of Africa
Professors
Robert H. Bates
Office hours: Wednesday 3-5 pm
K213 CGIS, 1737 Cambridge Street
James A. Robinson
Office hours: Monday 6-8 pm
K309 CGIS, 1737 Cambridge Street
One of the salient economic and political facts about the modern World is the dire poverty of
Sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of this course is to investigate the reasons for this and pose the
question: why is Africa poor?
The grade for the course for undergraduate students will determined on the basis of participation
in the sections (30%), a mid-term on Tuesday October 13 (30%) and a Final Exam which will be
on Monday December 12 (40%). Graduate students taking the course for credit will instead have
to write a paper which must be submitted by January 20, 2010.
Teaching Fellows
Brett Carter: blcarter@fas.harvard.edu
Mai Hassan: mai.o.hassan@gmail.com
Thursday September 3: Lecture 1 (Robinson)
Themes, questions and aspirations. African economic performance and living standards in global
and historical perspective: a concise overview.
Tuesday September 8: Lecture 2 (Robinson)
The emergence of Homo Sapiens, the Neolithic Revolution and the emergence of agriculture.
Africa in comparative perspective.
Readings:
Barker, Graeme (2006) The Agricultural Revolution in Prehistory: why did foragers become
farmers? New York: Oxford University Press. Chapters 1, 8 and 10.
Diamond, Jared (1997) Guns, Germs and Steel, New York: W.W. Norton & Co. Chapters 2,3,4
and 19.
Thursday September 10: Lecture 3 (Robinson)
The historical evolution of technology in Africa. Stone, Iron and copper (but no bronze).
Africa 2000 years ago in comparative perspective.
Readings:
Austen, Ralph A. and Daniel Headrick (1983) “The Role of Technology in the African past,”
African Studies Review, 26, 163-184.
HYPERLINK "http://www.jstor.org.ezpprod1.hul.harvard.edu/stable/pdfplus/524168.pdf?cookieSet=1" http://www.jstor.org.ezpprod1.hul.harvard.edu/stable/pdfplus/524168.pdf?cookieSet=1
Douglas, Mary (1962) “Lele Economy compared to the Bushong,” in Paul Bohannan and
George Dalton eds. Markets in Africa, Evanston: Northwestern University Press.
Vansina, Jan (1978) The Children of Woot: A History of the Kuba Peoples, Madison: University
of Wisconsin Press. Chapters 5 and 6.
Tuesday September 15: Lecture 4 (Robinson)
Development of states and political complexity #1: Aksum and Ethiopia in comparative
perspective.
Readings:
Connah, Graham (2001) African Civilizations: An Archaeological Perspective, 2nd Edition.
New York: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 3.
Goody, Jack (1971) Technology, Tradition and the State in Africa, New York; Cambridge
University Press. Chapters 1 and 2.
Pankhurst, Richard (1961) An Introduction to the Economic History of Ethiopia from early
times to 1800, London: Sidgwick and Jackson Ltd. Chapter 3 “Government, Administration and
Justice” and Chapter 10 “State Revenues, Taxation and Land Tenure.”
Thursday September 17: Lecture 5 (Bates)
Development of states and political complexity #2: The Sahel
Readings:
Levtzion, Nehemia. (1980) Ancient Ghana and Mali, London, Africana Publishing Company,
chapters 5-8.
Gomez, Michael A. (1990) “Timbuktu Under Imperial Songhay,” The Journal of African
History, 31(1): 5-24.
HYPERLINK "http://www.jstor.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/stable/pdfplus/182798.pdf"
http://www.jstor.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/stable/pdfplus/182798.pdf
Tuesday September 22: Lecture 6 (Robinson)
Africa in the Medieval period. Demography and the Black Death.
Hopkins, Anthony G. (1973) An Economic History of West Africa, New York: Addison Wesley
Longman. Chapter 2, pp. 8-77.
Brenner, Robert (1976) “Agrarian Class Structure and Economic Development in Pre-industrial
Europe,” Past and Present, 70, 30-75.
HYPERLINK "http://www.jstor.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/stable/pdfplus/650345.pdf"
http://www.jstor.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/stable/pdfplus/650345.pdf
Thursday September 24: Lecture 7 (Bates)
Patterns of trade in pre-modern Africa
Readings:
Hopkins, Anthony G. (1973) An Economic History of West Africa, New York: Addison Wesley
Longman. Chapter 2, pp. 8-77.
Ottenberg, Simon and Phoebe Ottenberg (1962) “Afikpo Markets: 1900-1960,” in Paul
Bohannan and George Dalton eds. Markets in Africa, Evanston: Northwestern University Press.
Cohen, Abner (1969) Custom and Politics in an Urban African Community, Berkeley and Los
Angeles, University of California Press., pp. 72-92.
Leeson, Peter (2007) “Trading with Bandits,” Journal of Law and Economics, 50(May): 303321.
HYPERLINK "http://www.journals.uchicago.edu.ezpprod1.hul.harvard.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/511320" http://www.journals.uchicago.edu.ezpprod1.hul.harvard.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/511320
Tuesday September 29: Lecture 8 (Bates)
Development of states and political complexity #3: Eastern Africa
Vansina, Jan (2004) Antecedents to Modern Rwanda, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Read Chapters 1-3.
Bates, R. H. (1987) The Centralization of African Societies. Essays on the Political Economy
of Rural Africa. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Pp. 1-58.
Thursday October 1: Lecture 9 (Bates)
The impact of slavery and the slave trade.
Readings:
Nunn, Nathan (2008) “The Long Term Effects of Africa’s Slave Trades,” Quarterly Journal of
Economics, 123, 139-176.
HYPERLINK
"http://www.mitpressjournals.org.ezpprod1.hul.harvard.edu/doi/pdf/10.1162/qjec.2008.123.1.139"
http://www.mitpressjournals.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/doi/pdf/10.1162/qjec.2008.123.1.139
Lovejoy, Paul E. (1989) “The Impact of the Atlantic Slave Trade on Africa: A Review of the
Literature.” Journal of African History 30, 365-394.
HYPERLINK "http://www.jstor.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/stable/pdfplus/182914.pdf"
http://www.jstor.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/stable/pdfplus/182914.pdf
Tuesday October 6: Lecture 10 (Robinson)
Africa, the Kongo and Portugal in 1500.
Readings:
Thornton, John (1983) The Kingdom of Kongo, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Chapters 2,3 and 4.
Thornton, John (1992) “Pre-Colonial African Industry and the Atlantic Trade, 1500-1800,
African Economic History Review, 19, 1-19.
HYPERLINK "http://www.jstor.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/stable/pdfplus/3601886.pdf"
http://www.jstor.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/stable/pdfplus/3601886.pdf
Thursday October 8: Lecture 11 (Bates)
Settlers and Traders
Readings:
Bates, R. H. (1987) Essays on the Political Economy of Rural Africa. Berkeley and Los
Angeles: University of California Press. Chapter 3.
O’Dike, K. (1982) Trade and Politics in the Niger Delta, 1830-55. Oxford: Greenwood Press.
Chapters 1, 5-9, and 11.
Tuesday October 13: Mid-Term Examination
Thursday October 15: Lecture 12 (Robinson)
The period of legitimate commerce in the 19th century. Comparison with Latin America.
Readings:
Hopkins, Anthony G. (1973) An Economic History of West Africa, New York: Addison Wesley
Longman. Chapter 3, sections 3 and 4 pp. 112-123. Chapter 4.
Iliffe, John (1982) The Emergence of African Capitalism, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota
Press. Chapter 1.
Manning, Patrick (1982) Slavery, Colonialism and Economic Growth in Dahomey, 1640-1960,
New York: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 3 “Struggles with the Gods: Economic Life in
the 1880s”.
Tuesday October 20: Lecture 13 (Robinson)
Creation of colonial economies
Readings:
Hopkins, Anthony G. (1973) An Economic History of West Africa, New York: Addison Wesley
Longman. Chapter 4.
Dalton, George H. (1965) “History, Politics and Economic Development in Liberia,” Journal of
Economic History, 25, 569-591.
HYPERLINK "http://www.jstor.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/stable/pdfplus/2116129.pdf"
http://www.jstor.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/stable/pdfplus/2116129.pdf
Feinstein, Charles H. (2005) An Economic History of South Africa: Conquest, Discrimination
and Development, New York; Cambridge University Press. Chapters 2,3 and 4.
Iliffe, John (1982) The Emergence of African Capitalism, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota
Press. Chapter 2.
Thursday October 22: Lecture 14 (Bates)
African Economic Growth since Independence
Readings:
Benno Ndulu and Stephen A. O’Connell (2007) “Policy Plus: Africa’s Growth Performance,
1960-2000,” in Benno Ndulu et al., The Political Economy of Economic Growth in Africa, 19602000: An Analytic Survey, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 3-75.
Collier, Paul and Stephen A. O’Connell (2007) “Opportunities and Choices,” in Benno Ndulu
et al., The Political Economy of Economic Growth in Africa, 1960-2000: An Analytic Survey,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 76-136.
Tuesday October 27: Lecture 15 (Bates)
The political economy of decline
Readings:
Bates, Robert H. (1981) Markets and States in Tropical Africa, Berkeley: University of
Caifornia Press.
Thursday October 29: Lecture 16 (Robinson)
The Failure of Industrialization in Africa: The case of Ghana
Readings:
Killick, Tony (1978) Development Economics in Action, London: Heinemann. Chapter 2
“Development, Disequilibrium and State Interventionism”, Chapter 3 “The Economic Strategies
of Nkrumah and his Successors,” pp. 11-65, and Chapter 9 “The State as Entrepreneur” pp. 214262.
Tuesday November 3: Lecture 17 (Bates)
Political Reform
Reading:
Bates, Robert H. (2007) “Political Reform,” in Benno Ndulu et al., The Political Economy of
Economic Growth in Africa, 1960-2000: An Analytic Survey, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, pp. 348-390.
Thursday November 5: Lecture 18 (Bates)
State Failure, Violence and Civil War
Reading:
Bates, Robert H. (2008) When Things Fell Apart, New York: Cambridge University Press.
Tuesday November 10: Lecture 19 (Robinson)
The Economic success of Botswana.
Readings:
Parsons, Q. Neil (1977) “An Economic History of King Khama’s Country,” in Robin Palmer
and Q. Neil Parsons eds. (1977) The Roots of Rural Poverty in Central and Southern Africa,
London: Heinemann Educational.
Robinson, James A. (2008) “Botswana as a Role Model for Country Success,” WIDER
Working Paper 2009/40.
HYPERLINK "http://www.wider.unu.edu/publications/working-papers/researchpapers/2009/en_GB/rp2009-40/_files/81579363566683606/default/RP2009-40.pdf"
http://www.wider.unu.edu/publications/working-papers/research-papers/2009/en_GB/rp200940/_files/81579363566683606/default/RP2009-40.pdf
Thursday November 12: Lecture 20 (Bates)
Ethnicity
Readings:
Miguel, Edward (2004) “Tribe or Nation? Nation Building and Public Goods in Kenya versus
Tanzania,” World Politics, 56 (3), 327-362.
HYPERLINK "http://muse.jhu.edu.ezpprod1.hul.harvard.edu/journals/world_politics/v056/56.3miguel.pdf" http://muse.jhu.edu.ezpprod1.hul.harvard.edu/journals/world_politics/v056/56.3miguel.pdf
Habyarimana, James, Macartan Humphreys, Daniel Posner and Jeremy Weinstein (2007)
“Why Does Ethnic Diversity Undermine Public Good Provision?” American Political Science
Review, 101 (4), 709-725.
HYPERLINK "http://proquest.umi.com.ezpprod1.hul.harvard.edu/pqdlink?index=17&did=1393374611&SrchMode=3&sid=2&Fmt=6&VIn
st=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1251907699&clientId=18857&aid=1
" http://proquest.umi.com.ezpprod1.hul.harvard.edu/pqdlink?index=17&did=1393374611&SrchMode=3&sid=2&Fmt=6&VIn
st=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1251907699&clientId=18857&aid=1
Bates, Robert H. and Irene Yackolev (2002) “Ethnicity in Africa,” In Christiaan Grootaert and
Thierry van Bastelaer, eds. The Role of Social Capital in Development: An Empirical
Assessment, New York: Cambridge University Press.
Tuesday November 17: Lecture 21 (Robinson)
Economic decline and civil war in Sierra Leone.
Readings:
Keen, David (2005) Conflict and Collusion in Sierra Leone, Oxford: James Currey. Chapter 2.
Robinson, James A. (2008) “Governance and Political Economy Constraints to World Bank
CAS Priorities in Sierra Leone,” HYPERLINK
"http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~jrobins/researchpapers/unpublishedpapers/index.htm"
http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~jrobins/researchpapers/unpublishedpapers/index.htm
Thursday November 19: Lecture 22 (Robinson)
From colonial to independent economies.
Readings:
Carter, Matthew, Pierre Engelbert and Stacy Tarango (2002) “Dismemberment and
Suffocation: A Contribution to the Debate on African Boundaries” Comparative Political
Studies, 35(10):1093-1118.
HYPERLINK "http://ft.csa.com.ezpprod1.hul.harvard.edu/ids70/resolver.php?sessid=90076ftkdp6e3eldfuaefb17k2&server=csaweb
107v.csa.com&check=614fb0975466bd6480624d7dd1d6c0ed&db=sagepol-set-c&key=00104140%2F10.1177_001041402237944&mode=pdf" http://ft.csa.com.ezpprod1.hul.harvard.edu/ids70/resolver.php?sessid=90076ftkdp6e3eldfuaefb17k2&server=csaweb
107v.csa.com&check=614fb0975466bd6480624d7dd1d6c0ed&db=sagepol-set-c&key=00104140%2F10.1177_001041402237944&mode=pdf
Manning, Patrick (1982) Slavery, Colonialism and Economic Growth in Dahomey, 1640-1960,
New York: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 10 “Capitalism and Colonialism 1915-1960”.
Young, Crawford (1994) The African Colonial State in Comparative Perspective, New Haven:
Yale University Press. Chapter 8 “The Imperial Legacy and State Traditions.”
Tuesday November 24: Lecture 23: (Bates)
Recent economic growth
Reading:
Economic Commission for Africa, Annual Report 2004 and 2009, HYPERLINK
"http://www.uneca.org/era2008/" http://www.uneca.org/era2008/
No Lecture Thursday November 26 Thanksgiving Holiday.
Tuesday December 1: Lecture 24 (Robinson)
Understanding African Poverty over the Longue Durée #1
Readings:
Acemoglu, Daron, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson (2006) “Understanding Prosperity
and Poverty: Geography, Institutions and the Reversal of Fortune,” in Abhijit Banerjee, Roland
Bénabou and Dilip Mookherjee eds. Understanding Poverty, New York: Oxford University
Press.
Sachs, Jeffrey D & Warner, Andrew M. (1997) “Sources of Slow Growth in African
Economies,” Journal of African Economies, 6(3), 335-76.
HYPERLINK "http://jae.oxfordjournals.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/cgi/reprint/6/3/335"
http://jae.oxfordjournals.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/cgi/reprint/6/3/335
Weil, David N. Quamrul Ashraf and Ashley Lester (2008) “When Does Improving Health
Raise GDP?” NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2008, 3.
HYPERLINK "http://www.nber.org/papers/w14449.pdf"
http://www.nber.org/papers/w14449.pdf
Thursday December 3: Lecture 25 (Bates)
Understanding African Poverty over the Longue Durée #2