When Things Fell Apart: State Failure in Late-Century Africa

by Robert H. Bates

• ISBN13: 9780521715256
• ISBN10: 0521715253
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-02-18
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

In the later decades of the twentieth century, Africa plunged into political chaos. States failed, governments became predators, and citizens took up arms. In When Things Fell Apart, Robert H. Bates advances an exploration of state failure in Africa. In so doing, he not only plumbs the depths of the continent's late-century tragedy, but also the logic of political order and the foundations of the state. This book covers a wide range of territory by drawing on materials from Rwanda, Sudan, Liberia, and Congo. A must-read for scholars and policy makers concerned with political conflict and state failure.

Author Biography

Robert H. Bates is the Eaton Professor of the Science of Government, a Faculty Fellow of the Institute for International Development, and a member of the Department of African and African-American Studies at Harvard University

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction
Introduction	p. 3
From Fable to Fact	p. 15
Sowing the Seeds
Political Legacies	p. 33
Policy Choices	p. 55
Subnational Tensions	p. 75
Things Fall Apart
Things Fall Apart	p. 97
Conclusion	p. 129
Appendix
Cross-National Regressions	p. 143
Bibliography	p. 175
Index	p. 187
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