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21 reviews for:
The Bright Continent: Breaking Rules and Making Change in Modern Africa
Dayo Olopade
3.91 AVERAGE
21 reviews for:
The Bright Continent: Breaking Rules and Making Change in Modern Africa
Dayo Olopade
3.91 AVERAGE
Sharp, fun book about the ways African people are trying to work around their horrifically failed governments. A little too libertarian-rah-rah at times, but it's understandable to stress decentralized private mechanisms of filling governance needs in countries where governments have mostly been extractive private-equity companies with guns rather than actual legitimate authorities. Will really change the way you think about the next century of human development; in particular, African entrepreneurs have totally skipped over some technological stages and, by necessity, are much more adept with using mobile technology and renewable energy than we are. Also makes me rethink how charity and aid should work.
A half-baked reaction thought: Just as America was able to industrialize very quickly because we weren't bound to old formal class relations and aristocratic norms, many sectors in African societies are developing at fast rates and in unfamiliar ways because they're not constrained by a lot of formal structures.
This reads very quickly and I found myself highlighting a lot of passages. I expect to be thinking about this book a lot in the future. It's a really exciting book.
A half-baked reaction thought: Just as America was able to industrialize very quickly because we weren't bound to old formal class relations and aristocratic norms, many sectors in African societies are developing at fast rates and in unfamiliar ways because they're not constrained by a lot of formal structures.
This reads very quickly and I found myself highlighting a lot of passages. I expect to be thinking about this book a lot in the future. It's a really exciting book.