https://www.polity.org.za
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / Author Interviews RSS ← Back
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Embed Video

Why States Recover: Changing Walking Societies into Winning Nations, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe

Greg Mills speaks to Polity.org.za about his new book 'Why States Recover: Changing Walking Societies into Winning Nations, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe'. Camera & Editing: Darlene Creamer. 2014/07/28.

30th July 2014

SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

State failure takes many forms. Somalia offers one extreme. A collapse of central authority as the outcome of a prolonged civil war, where authority descends into competing factions—headed by warlords—around the spoils of local commerce, power and international aid. At the other end of the scale is Malawi. During President Bingu’s second term in office, the country’s economy collapsed as a result of poor policies and personalised politics. On the surface, save the petrol queues, it was stable; underneath, the polity was fractured, the economy broken.

Between these two extremes of state failure are all manner of examples. Drawing on research in more than thirty countries, incorporating interviews with a dozen leaders, Mills disaggregates state failure and identify instances of recovery in Latin America, Asia and Africa. All the while he returns to his key questions: how do countries recover, and what roles ought insiders and outsiders play to aid that process?

Advertisement

About the author:

Greg Mills is Director of the Johannesburg-based Brenthurst Foundation. He is widely published on international affairs, development and security, an adviser to African governments, a regular columnist for local and international newspapers, and the author of the best-selling book Why Africa is Poor—and what Africans can do about it.

Advertisement

'Why States Recover: Changing Walking Societies into Winning Nations, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe' is published by Hurst Publishers

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Comment Guidelines

About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options
Free daily email newsletter Register Now