Economic Development Archives:
Is Kenya’s coalition doomed?
Recent reports that militia groups - armed, funded, trained and supported by leading politicians - are growing in strength in Kenya is a major blow to the country’s political stability. During the December 2007 and January 2008 election violence, ethnic militias terrorized opponents in the Rift Valley. Rift Valley province is really the open sore [...]
News flash: Africa now on economists’ radar screens
When I started studying economics as an undergraduate at MIT in the early 1990s, development economics was at best a peripheral field, and at worst an embarrassing interest to admit to. When I applied to graduate school, and listed development economics, political economy and economic history as my three fields of interest, a terrified letter-writer [...]
Will the economic downturn push Sierra Leone back to war?
Recent news reports from Sierra Leone, a country where I’ve worked since 2004, aren’t looking good. Youth unemployment is sky high, at 60 percent. And these aren’t just any old youth. Many are former soldiers in the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) or the Sierra Leone Army (SLA), groups that terrorized civilians during the country’s brutal [...]
Guinea Bissau’s President assassinated
A violent day in African politics: President Vieira of Guinea Bissau was assassinated today, only months after a near fatal attack. The country has long been home ground to economic gangsters - including drug traffickers and rapacious army leaders. I wonder whether violent attacks of this kind, as well as coups, civil wars, and election [...]
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