Government and Politics of Africa
Political Science 3347
Southern Methodist University
Fall 2012
Class time and location: MWF 2-2:50 p.m., Fondren Science Building 155
Professor Karisa Cloward, Department of Political Science
Office: 201 Carr Collins Hall
Office Hours: MW 3-4:30 p.m., and by appointment
Email: kcloward@smu.edu
COURSE DESCRIPTION AND LEARNING OUTCOMES
This course is an introduction to contemporary Sub-Saharan African politics, focusing both on larger trends in the
region and the substantial diversity of experience across individual countries. It will delve into Africa’s experience
with a wide range of political regimes, conflict situations, and development trajectories in the post-independence
era, and will attempt to counter the pessimism and sensationalism common to Western media accounts of Africa
with a balanced look at the continent’s success stories as well as its crises. It will also investigate Africa’s precolonial, colonial, and post-colonial history for clues to understanding the challenges the region faces today.
The course satisfies the Individuals, Institutions, and Cultures Pillar (Level II) and the Human Diversity
Proficiency of the University Curriculum. As such, students who take the course will be able to analyze different
theoretical perspectives in the study of political experiences, and will be able to evaluate critically the research
outcomes and theoretical applications associated with those experiences. With respect to issues related to race,
ethnicity, and societies in the developing world, students will also be able to demonstrate an understanding of the
political conditions of identity formation and function in human society, including the ways in which these
conditions influence individual or group status, treatment, or accomplishments.
TEXTS
The following three books are required, and are available for purchase at the bookstore:
Herbst, Jeffrey. 2000. States and Power in Africa. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Moss, Todd J. 2011. African Development: Making Sense of the Issues and Actors. 2nd ed. Boulder, CO; London:
Lynn Rienner Publishers.
van de Walle, Nicolas. 2001. African Economies and the Politics of Permanent Crisis, 1979-1999. Cambridge;
New York: Cambridge University Press.
All other required readings are available electronically through Blackboard. In addition, a number of the required
articles we will read over the course of the semester have been reprinted in this edited volume, available at the
bookstore:
Lewis, Peter, ed. 1998. Africa: Dilemmas of Development and Change. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Finally, this concise history of Africa is a good introductory primer:
Iliffe, John. 2007. Africans: The History of a Continent. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2nd Edition.
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COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING
Grading
Participation
Reading & Map Quizzes
Country Briefs
Final Paper
Midterm Exam
Final Exam
10%
10%
20%
25%
15%
20%
Attendance and Participation
Attendance at lecture and participation in discussion are expected. If you need to miss class for a family
emergency, illness, or University-sponsored event, you must notify me in advance via email and provide
appropriate documentation. Unexcused absences will adversely affect your participation grade. Upon your fifth
unexcused absence, you will be either administratively dropped from the course or receive a final grade of
F.
If you must miss a class, please obtain lecture notes from another student. I will not distribute PowerPoint slides
or my own personal notes, nor will I provide a private tutorial. If you have spoken to a classmate and still have
questions, I am available to fill in the gaps.
Required readings are, in fact, required – you should complete them prior to the beginning of the class for which
they’re assigned and come to class prepared and ready to discuss them. In addition to general preparation and
participation, at the beginning of the semester you will select an African country and become the class’s expert on
that country. You will be responsible for independently researching your country’s history, economy, and politics,
such that you will be prepared to talk in class about each day’s reading and lecture topic as it relates to your
country.
I expect you to be courteous and respectful to me and to your classmates. This means arriving on time, staying in
your seat and awake until the end of the period, and refraining from texting or other distracting activities. I will
permit the use of laptops in class, but will ask you to make a commitment to using them only for the purpose of
note taking. If I find that laptops are being used for other purposes, the privilege will be revoked.
Late arrivals and early departures, being present but unprepared to participate, participating without being
prepared, and engaging in distracting or disrespectful behavior will all adversely affect your participation grade.
Assignment Details
Map Quiz: You will be responsible for identifying countries and their capitals. You may find these practice
quizzes helpful: sporcle.com/games/g/africa; sporcle.com/games/g/africacapitals
Reading Quizzes: Periodically throughout the semester, I will give unannounced quizes on the readings. The
quizzes will be open note, but not open book or open laptop, and will consist primarily of basic, factual questions
that you should have no trouble answering if you have completed the readings and taken good notes. I will drop
your lowest quiz grade before calculating your overall quiz average. If you miss a pop quiz because of an excused
absence, that quiz will be dropped and your remaining quiz grades re-weighted to compensate. If you miss a pop
quiz because of an unexcused absence, you will receive a zero on the quiz. There will be no make-up quizzes.
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Country Briefs: While you will be responsible every class period for understanding the readings as they relate to
your country, you will also choose three dates in which to submit a three-page written account of your country’s
experience with the coming weeks’ topics of discussion. You will meet with me during the first two weeks of the
semester to select your paper submission dates. You may change your scheduled dates at a later time, but you must
provide at least five days’ advance notice. You must also complete at least one paper by September 24th. If you
wish, you may submit a fourth paper, in which case your lowest paper grade (from among on-time papers only)
will be dropped.
Final Paper: You will write an 8-10 page paper detailing some aspect of your country’s experience with postcolonial political institutions, conflict, or development. You will critically evaluate and compare the applicability of
various existing theories to your country’s outcomes, citing a minimum of eight scholarly sources. A draft
introductory paragraph and bibliography of scholarly sources, worth 10% of your final paper grade, is due
November 9th. The full paper is due November 26th.
Exams: Both the midterm and final exam will consist of IDs and essay questions. You will need to draw on
information from both lectures and readings in order to successfully answer the exam questions. The final exam
will be comprehensive.
Paper Submission and Help
The country briefs and final paper should be double-spaced, with 1-inch margins, 12-point Times New Roman
font, and standard character spacing. Each paper must be submitted in hard-copy format prior to the beginning of
class on the day it is due. Failure to meet this deadline will result in a half letter grade deduction for each 24-hour
period after the due date and time, beginning at 2:01 p.m. It is your responsibility to complete all assignments such
that sufficient time remains to deal with any technical difficulties you might encounter. I will not be sympathetic to
claims of malfunctioning printers.
Each paper must also be submitted to Blackboard as a Word document (not a PDF). In the absence of electronic
submission, your paper will not be graded.
The SMU Writing Center can help you with your writing. Call 214-768-3648 for an appointment.
Contacting Me
For quick questions or to schedule an appointment, the best way to contact me is via email at kcloward@smu.edu.
My office hours, listed at the beginning of the syllabus, are your time. I am here to help you, but in order for me to
do that you must first let me know that you are having a problem. If my regular hours are inconvenient for you, I
am happy to schedule another time.
Religious and Disability Accommodation
Students needing academic accommodations for a disability must first contact Disability Accommodations &
Success Strategies (DASS) at 214-768-1470 or http://smu.edu/alec/dass.asp to verify the disability and to establish
eligibility for accommodations. You should then schedule an appointment with me to make appropriate
arrangements. It is essential that you address your needs early in the semester, before assignments are due.
Students who need to miss class for religious reasons should provide me with an explanation, in writing, no later
than September 5th.
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Honor Code
I take plagiarism and other forms of cheating very seriously. Plagiarism is the use of someone else's work, words,
or ideas as if they were your own. When in doubt, cite. In addition, you may not recycle work you have submitted
in another course.
The SMU Honor Code governs all student work in this course, both in class and outside of the classroom. Honor
code violations are punishable not only by a failing grade for the course, but also by referral to the University
Honor Council. Ignorance of the Honor Code and its provisions is not an excuse. Any questions about specific
applications of the Honor Code should be addressed to me.
STAYING CURRENT
Paying attention to African current events will help you in this course. Consider the following:
News:
BBC Africa http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/africa/
All Africa http://allafrica.com
Africa Confidential (available online through the SMU Library)
Africa News http://www.africanews.com
IRIN Africa http://www.irinnews.org/IRIN-Africa.aspx
Blogs:
Africa Can http://blogs.worldbank.org/africacan/
Africa is a Country http://africasacountry.com
African Arguments http://africanarguments.org/category/politics-now/
Evan Lieberman http://evanlieberman.org/
FP Passport http://blog.foreignpolicy.com
Haba na Haba http://habanahaba.wordpress.com/
Sahel Blog http://sahelblog.wordpress.com/
Scarlett Lion www.scarlettlion.com
Texas in Africa http://texasinafrica.blogspot.com
Wronging Rights http://www.wrongingrights.com/
Think Tanks:
Brookings Africa http://www.brookings.edu/research/topics/sub-saharan-africa
Center for Global Development http://www.cgdev.org/section/topics/regions/africa
Podcasts:
Africa Past & Present http://afripod.aodl.org/
BBC Africa Today http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/africa/
BBC Focus on Africa
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/2011/04/000000_focus_on_africa.shtml
Video:
TED Africa http://www.ted.com/themes/africa_the_next_chapter.html
Universities:
Columbia http://library.columbia.edu/indiv/area/africa.html
Stanford http://library.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/guide.html
University of Pennsylvania www.africa.upenn.edu/AS.html
Academic Journals: Africa, African Affairs, African Studies Review, Africa Today, African Studies Quarterly,
African Studies Review, Journal of African Economies, Journal of Modern African Studies, Review of African
Political Economy
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LECTURE AND READING SCHEDULE
I. HISTORY
August 20: Introduction
 Wainaina, Binyavanga. 2005. How to Write About Africa. Granta. London: Granta Publications.
 Moss. Chapter 1.
August 22: Overview of Sub-Saharan Africa
 “The Heart of the Matter.” The Economist. May 13, 2000.
 Gordon, David, and Howard Wolpe. 1998. “The Other Africa: An End to Afro-Pessimism.” World Policy
Journal 15(1): 49-59.
Recommended:
 Chazan, Naomi, et al. 1999. “The Diversity of African Politics: Trends and Approaches.” In Politics and
Society in Contemporary Africa, ed. Naomi Chazan, Robert Mortimer, John Ravenhill, and Donald Rothchild.
Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers. 3rd Edition, pp. 5-34.
August 24: Reading, Writing, and Citing
 King, Charles. 1999. “How to Think.”
http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/kingch/How_to_Think.htm
 Farrell, Henry. 2010. “Good Writing in Political Science: An Undergraduate Student’s Short Illustrated
Primer.” http://www.henryfarrell.net/pol_sci_essay.html.
 University of Wisconsin Writer’s Handbook “Acknowledging, Paraphrasing, and Quoting Sources”
handout.
 The Chicago Manual of Style “Citation Quick Guide.”
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html
August 27: Pre-Colonial History
 Moss. Chapter 2, pp. 21-22.
 Simiyu, V.G. 1988. “The Democratic Myth in the African Traditional Societies.” In Democratic Theory and
Practice in Africa, ed. Walter O. Oyugi, E.S. Atieno Odhiambo, Michael Chege, and Afrifa K. Gitonga.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
 Herbst. Chapter 2.
Recommended:
 Kenyatta, Jomo. 1962. Facing Mount Kenya: The Tribal Life of the Gikuyu. New York: Vintage Books.
 Evans-Pritchard, E. E. 1940. The Nuer: A Description of the Modes of Livelihood and Political Institutions of a
Nilotic People. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Map Quiz
August 29: European Exploration
 Moss. Chapter 2, pp. 22-23.
 Achebe, Chinua. 1996. Things Fall Apart. Oxford; Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Educational. Chapters 1525.
Recommended:
 Iliffe, John. 2007. Africans: The History of a Continent. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2nd Edition.
Chapter 7.
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August 31: Class Cancelled
September 3: Labor Day
September 5: The Colonial Period
 Moss. Chapter 2, pp. 23-26.
 Crowder, Michael. 1964. “Indirect Rule: French and British Style.” Africa 34: 197-205.
 Herbst. Chapter 3.
Recommended:
 Hochschild, Adam. 1998. King Leopold’s Ghost. Boston; New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
September 7: Independence
 Moss. Chapter 2, pp. 26-29.
 Ade Ajayi, J.F. 1982. “Expectations of Independence.” Daedalus 111(2): 1-9.
 Herbst. Chapter 4.
Recommended:
 Branch, Daniel. 2007. “The Enemy Within: Loyalists and the War Against Mau Mau in Kenya.” The
Journal of African History 48: 291-315.
 Coleman, James S. 1954. “Nationalism in Tropical Africa.” American Political Science Review 48(2): 404-426.
September 10: The Colonial Legacy
 Moss. Chapter 2, pp. 29-37.
 Ekeh, Peter. 1975. “Colonialism and the Two Publics in Africa: A Theoretical Statement.” Comparative
Studies in Society and History 17(1): 91-112.
 Mamdani. Mahmood. 1996. Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Chapter 2.
Recommended:
 Acemoglu, Daron, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson. 2001. “The Colonial Origins of Comparative
Development: An Empirical Investigation.” The American Economic Review 91(5): 1369-1401.
 Firmin-Sellers, Kathryn. 1995. “The Politics of Property Rights.” American Political Science Review 89(4): 867881.
 Touré, Sékou. 1962. “Africa’s Future and the World.” Foreign Affairs 41(1): 141-51.
 Young, Crawford. 1998. “The African Colonial State Revisited.” Governance 11(1): 101-120.
 Young, Crawford. 2004. “The End of the Post-Colonial State in Africa? Reflections on Changing African
Political Dynamics.” African Affairs 103: 23-49.
II. POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS
September 12: Post-Colonial Institutions
 Moss. Chapter 7, pp. 105-109.
 Hayward, Fred. 1986. “In Search of Stability: Independence and Experimentation.” In Africans: A Reader,
ed. Ali A. Mazrui et al. New York: Praeger Publishers, pp. 156-171; 178-188.
 Ayittey, George. 2005. Africa Unchained: The Blueprint for Africa’s Future. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
Chapter 3, pp. 57-83.
 McGowan, Patrick J. 2003. “African Military Coups d’Etat, 1956-2001.” Journal of Modern African Studies
41(3): 339-343 and 355-359.
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Recommended:
 Chabal, Patrick, and Jean-Pascal Daloz. 1999. Africa Works: Disorder as Political Instrument. Oxford: James
Currey Publishers. Chapter 1.
 Collier, Paul, and Anke Hoeffler. 2005. “Coup Traps: Why Does Africa Have So Many Coups d’Etat?”
Working Paper.
 Soyinka, Wole. 2006. You Must Set Forth at Dawn: A Memoir. New York: Random House.
September 14: Weak States
 Jackson, Robert H., and Carl G. Rosberg. 1982. “Why Africa's Weak States Persist: The Empirical and the
Juridical in Statehood.” World Politics 35(1): 1-24.
 Herbst. Chapter 5.
Recommended:
 Herbst. Chapter 1.
September 17: The Politics of Personal Rule
 Moss. Chapter 3, pp. 39-42.
 Jackson, Robert H., and Carl G. Rosberg. 1984. “Personal Rule: Theory and Practice in Africa.”
Comparative Politics 16(4): 421-442.
September 19: Neo-Patrimonialism
 van de Walle. Chapter 3.
September 21: Big Men
 Moss. Chapter 3, pp. 43-56.
 Wrong, Michela. 2002. In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu’s Congo. New
York: Harper Collins. Chapter 4.
September 24: Democracy
 Przeworski, Adam, Michael E. Alvarez, José Antonio Cheibub, and Fernando Limongi. 2000. Democracy
and Development: Political Institutions and Well-Being in the World, 1950-1990. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, pp. 13-30; 33-36.
 Freedom House. 2010. “Freedom in the World: Methodology.”
http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=351&ana_page=363&year=2010
September 26: Democratization
 Moss. Chapter 5, pp. 75-78.
 Bratton, Michael. 1997. “Deciphering Africa's Divergent Transitions.” Political Science Quarterly 112(1): 6793.
Recommended:
 Bratton, Michael, and Eric Chang. 2006. “State-Building and Democratization in Africa: Forwards,
Backwards, or Together?” Comparative Political Studies 39(9): 1059-1083.
September 28: Challenges to Democratic Consolidation
 Moss. Chapter 5, pp. 78-87.
 Young, Crawford. 1996. “Africa: An Interim Balance Sheet.” Journal of Democracy 7(3): 53-68.
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
van de Walle. Chapter 6.
Bratton, Michael, and Robert B. Mattes. 2001. “Africans’ Surprising Universalism.” Journal of Democracy
12(1): 107-121.
Recommended:
 Diamond, Larry. 2002. “Thinking about Hybrid Regimes.” Journal of Democracy 13(2): 21-35.
October 1: Constraints on Political Participation
 Monga, Célestin. 1997. “Eight Problems with African Politics.” Journal of Democracy 8(3): 156-170.
 Bratton, Michael, and Eldred Masunungure. 2008. “Zimbabwe’s Long Agony.” Journal of Democracy 19(4):
41-55.
 Human Rights Watch. 2010. “Rwanda: Attacks on Freedom of Expression, Association, and Assembly in
the Run-Up to Presidential Elections.”
Recommended:
 Harbeson, John W. 2005. “Ethiopia's Extended Transition.” Journal of Democracy 16(4): 144-158.
October 3: Ethnic Politics
 Posner, Daniel. 2004. “The Political Salience of Cultural Difference: Why Chewas and Tumbukas are
Allies in Zambia and Adversaries in Malawi.” American Political Science Review 98(4): 529-545.
 Miguel, Edward. 2004. “Tribe or Nation? Nation Building and Public Goods in Kenya versus Tanzania.”
World Politics 56(3): 327-352.
Recommended:
 Diamond, Larry. 1982. “Cleavage, Conflict, and Anxiety in the Second Nigerian Republic.” The Journal of
Modern African Studies 20(4): 629-668.
October 5-8: Corruption and Clientelism
 Wrong, Michela. 2009. It’s Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle-Blower. New York: Harper. Chapter
4.
 van de Walle, Nicolas. 2007. “‘Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss?’ The Evolution of Political
Clientelism in Africa.” In Patrons, Clients, and Policies: Patterns of Democratic Accountability and Political
Competition, ed Herbert Kitschelt and Steven I. Wilkinson. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University
Press, pp. 50-67.
Recommended:
 Wantchekon, Leonard. 2003. “Clientelism and Voting Behavior: Evidence from a Field Experiment in
Benin.” World Politics 55(3): 399-422.
October 10: Civil Society
 Gyimah-Boadi, Emmanuel. 1996. “Civil Society in Africa.” Journal of Democracy 7(2): 118-32.
 Bratton, Michael. 1989. “The Politics of Government-NGO Relations in Africa.” World Development 17(4):
569-587.
 Tripp, Aili Marie. 1994. “Gender, Political Participation, and the Transformation of Associational Life in
Uganda and Tanzania.” African Studies Review 37(1): 107-131.
Recommended:
 Azarya, Victor, and Naomi Chazan. 1987. “Disengagement from the State in Africa: Reflections on the
Experience of Ghana and Guinea.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 29(1): 106-131.
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
Ndegwa, Stephen N. 1996. The Two Faces of Civil Society: NGOs and Politics in Africa. West Hartford, CT:
Kumarian Press. Chapters 2 and 3.
October 12: Midterm Exam
October 15: Fall Break
October 17: Research
 No assigned readings.
III. THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF CONFLICT
October 19: Types of Conflict
 Moss. Chapter 4, pp. 57-63.
 Human Security Brief. 2007. Chapter 2.
October 22-24: Causes of Civil War
 Moss. Chapter 4, pp. 64-68.
 Collier, Paul, and Anke Hoeffler. 2002. “On the Incidence of Civil War in Africa.” Journal of Conflict
Resolution 46(1): 13-28.
 Collier, Paul. 2007. The Bottom Billion. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. Chapter 2, pp. 17-26
and 35-36.
 Young, Crawford. 2002. “Deciphering Disorder in Africa: Is Identity the Key?” World Politics 54(4): 532557.
 Bates, Robert. 2008. “The Logic of State Failure: Learning from Late-Century Africa.” Conflict Management
and Peace Science 25: 297-314.
 Herbst. Chapter 9, pp. 254-255.
Recommended:
 Blattman, Christopher, and Ted Miguel. 2010. “Civil War.” Journal of Economic Literature 48(1): 3-57.
 Collier, Paul, and Anke Hoeffler 2004. “Greed and Grievance in Civil Wars,” Oxford Economic Papers 56(4):
563-595.
 Fearon, James D. 2005. “Primary Commodity Exports and Civil War.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 49(4):
483-507.
 Fearon, James D., and David D. Laitin. 2003. “Ethnicity, Insurgency and Civil War.” American Political
Science Review 97(1): 75-90.
 Elbadawi, Ibrahim, and Nicholas Sambanis. 2000. “Why Are There So Many Civil Wars in Africa?
Understanding and Preventing Violent Conflict.” Journal of African Economies 9(3): 244-269.
 Humphreys, Macartan, and Jeremy M. Weinstein. 2008. “Who Fights? The Determinants of Participation
in Civil War.” American Journal of Political Science 52(2): 436-455.
October 26: Characteristics and Consequences of Conflict
 Moss. Chapter 4, pp. 63-64.
 Collier, Paul. 2007. The Bottom Billion. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. Chapter 2, pp. 26-35.
 Menkhaus, Ken. 2003. “State Collapse in Somalia: Second Thoughts.” Review of African Political
Economy 30(97): 405-422.
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Recommended:
 Collier, Paul, Anke Hoeffler, and Mans Soderbom. 2004. “On the Duration of Civil War.” Journal of Peace
Research 41(3): 253-273.
 Graybill, Lyn S. 2004. “Pardon, Punishment, and Amnesia: Three African Post-Conflict Methods.” Third
World Quarterly 25(6): 1117-1130.
 Patrick, Stewart. 2006. “Weak States and Global Threats: Fact or Fiction?” The Washington Quarterly 29(2):
27-53.
 Singer, P.W. 2006. Children at War. Berkeley; Los Angeles: University of California Press.
October 29-31: Genocide
 Des Forges, Alison. 1999. Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda. New York: Human Rights Watch.
pp. i-27 and 199-221.
 de Waal, Alex. 2004. “Tragedy in Darfur: On Understanding and Ending the Horror.” Boston Review
October/November 2004.
Recommended:
 Film: “Sometimes in April.” Available at SMU Library.
 PBS Frontline Documentary: “Ghosts of Rwanda.” Available at SMU Library.
 Gourevitch, Phillip. 1998. We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories
from Rwanda. New York: Picador.
 Straus, Scott. 2005. “Darfur and the Genocide Debate.” Foreign Affairs 84(1): 123-133.
November 2: International Intervention
 Moss. Chapter 4, pp. 68-73.
 Western, Jon, and Joshua S. Goldstein. 2011. "Humanitarian Intervention Comes of Age: Lessons from
Somalia to Libya." Foreign Affairs 90: 48-59.
 Weinstein, Jeremy. 2005. “Autonomous Recovery and International Intervention in Comparative
Perspective.” Center for Global Development Working Paper Number 57.
 Fortna, Virginia Page. 2004. "Does Peacekeeping Keep Peace? International Intervention and the
Duration of Peace After Civil War." International Studies Quarterly 48: 269-292.
Recommended:
 Autesserre, Severine. 2012. “Dangerous Tales: Dominant Narratives on the Congo and Their Unintended
Consequences.” African Affairs Advance Access.
http://afraf.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/02/09/afraf.adr080.full
IV. DEVELOPMENT
November 5: Economic Development
 Moss. Chapter 6, pp. 91-95.
November 7: Poverty and Human Development
 Moss. Chapter 10.
 “The Road to Hell Is Unpaved.” The Economist. December 21, 2002.
 Kenny, Charles. 2009. “Think Again: Africa’s Crisis.” Foreign Policy Magazine.
 Clemens, Michael, and Todd Moss. 2005. “What’s Wrong with the Millennium Development Goals?”
Center for Global Development Brief.
 UNAIDS. “AIDS Epidemic Update – December 2009.” Pp. 21-36.
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Recommended:
 UN Millennium Project. 2005. Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development
Goals. London: Earthscan. Chapter 2.
November 9-12: Causes of Slow Growth
 Moss. Read Chapter 6, pp. 94-104. Review Chapter 7, pp. 105-109. Read Chapters 12 and 13.
 Collier, Paul, and Jan Gunning. 1999. “Why Has Africa Grown Slowly?” Journal of Economic Perspectives
13(3): 3-22.
Recommended:
 Acemoglu, Daron, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson. 2001. “The Colonial Origins of Comparative
Development: An Empirical Investigation.” American Economic Review 91(5): 1369-1401.
 de Waal, Alex. 2003. “How Will HIV/AIDS Transform African Governance?” African Affairs 102: 1-23.
 Englebert, Pierre. 2000. “Pre-Colonial Institutions, Post-Colonial States, and Economic Development in
Tropical Africa.” Political Research Quarterly 53(7): 7-36.
 Ramachandran, Vijaya. 2008. “Power and Roads for Africa.” Center for Global Development Essay.
 Sachs, Jeffrey D. 2005. The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time. New York: Penguin Books.
Chapter 3.
November 9: Final Paper Introductory Paragraph and Bibliography due in class
November 14-16: Structural Adjustment and the Bretton Woods Institutions
 Moss. Chapter 7, pp. 110-119, and Chapter 8, pp. 128-133.
 van de Walle. Chapters 1, 2, and 4.
November 19: The International Aid Regime
 Moss. Chapter 8.
November 21-23: Thanksgiving Break
November 26: Aid Effectiveness and Supporters
 Radelet, Steven. 2006. “A Primer on Foreign Aid.” Center for Global Development Working Paper 92.
 Sachs, Jeffrey D. 2005. The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time. New York: Penguin Books. Pp.
244-280.
 Collier, Paul. 2006. “African Growth: Why a ‘Big Push’?” Journal of African Economies 15(2): 188-211.
Recommended:
 Collier, Paul. 1999. “Aid ‘Dependency’: A Critique.” Journal of African Economies 8(4): 528-545.
 Easterly, William. 2005. “Reliving the ‘50s: the Big Push, Poverty Traps, and Takeoffs in Economic
Development.” Center for Global Development Working Paper 65.
 Sachs, Jeffrey D. et al. 2004. “Ending Africa’s Poverty Trap.” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 1: 117216.
Final Paper due in class
November 28: Aid Critics
 Easterly, William, and Claudia R. Williamson. “Rhetoric versus Reality: The Best and Worst of Aid
Agency Practices.” World Development 39(11): 1930-1949.
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Ayittey, George. 1998. Africa in Chaos. New York: St. Martin’s Press. Chapter 8, pp. 267-287.
van de Walle. Chapter 5.
Recommended:
 Birdsall, Nancy. 2004. “Seven Deadly Sins: Reflections on Donor Failings.” Center for Global Development
Working Paper Number 50.
 Easterly, William. 2009. “Can the West Save Africa?” Journal of Economic Literature 47(2): 373-447.
 Moss. Chapter 9.
November 30: Non-Governmental Organizations, Charities, and Advocacy
 Video: Invisible Children. “Kony 2012.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc
 Taub, Amanda, ed. 2012. Beyond #Kony2012: Atrocity, Awareness + Activism in the Internet Age. Pp. 87-102;
117-135.
 Podcast: The Stanford Storytelling Project. “Story 2: How Not to Give.”
http://www.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/shows/season-4/265-episode403-how-to-give.html
Recommended:
 Website: GiveWell. http://www.givewell.org/
 Website: Making Sense of Kony. http://makingsenseofkony.org/
 Video: Al Jazeera. “The Stream: African Aid – Helpful or Hazardous?”
http://goodintents.org/dignity/al-jazeeras-the-stream-talks-aid-and-dignity2012
December 3: Conclusions/Africa’s Future
 Moss. Chapter 14.
 Chazan, Naomi, et al. 1999. “Africa in the Twenty-First Century.” In Politics and Society in Contemporary
Africa, ed. Naomi Chazan, Robert Mortimer, John Ravenhill, and Donald Rothchild. Boulder, CO: Lynne
Rienner Publishers. 3rd Edition, pp. 491-498.
Recommended:
 Bates, Robert H., John H. Coatsworth, and Jeffrey G. Williamson. 2007. “Lost Decades: PostIndependence Performance in Latin America and Africa.” The Journal of Economic History 67(4): 917943.
 Moss. Chapter 11.
 Tull, Denis M. 2006. “China’s Engagement in Africa: Scope, Significance and Consequences.” Journal of
Modern African Studies 44(3): 459-479.
December 7, 8-11 a.m.: Final Exam