Download Chris Blattman's original syllabus here
Here is the revised syllabus:
University of Alabama
Spring 2011
Independent Study: African Poverty & Western Aid
The set of readings (below) is from Dr. Chris Blattman’s Yale University, Spring 2010 PLSC 170b / AFST 170b syllabus. The following are the books Blattman has identified as being needed.
Required books:
The following book is as close as we will get to a textbook in this course, and is a must‐read:
Todd J. Moss (2007). African development. London, Lynne Rienner.
We are also going to read most of the following books:
Nicolas van de Walle (2001). African Economies and the Politics of Permanent Crisis, 1979‐1999.
Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Elhanan Helpman (2004). The Mystery of Economic Growth. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
You will write critical book reviews of the following two books, both of which are very inexpensive:
Dambisa Moyo (2009). Dead Aid. New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Paul Collier (2007). The Bottom Billion. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Recommended books:
This history of Africa is concise and interesting:
John Iliffe (2007). Africans: The History of a Continent. Cambridge University Press.
The following books by Bill Easterly are very good (and inexpensive). I assign articles of his in class, but you should read his books if you plan to work in development. Reading them will also enhance your book reviews:
William Easterly (2001). The Elusive Quest for Economic Growth: Economists’ Adventures and
Misadventures in the Tropics. Cambridge, MIT Press.
William Easterly (2006). The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill, and So Little Good. New York, Penguin Press.
Finally, the following books are available free online:
Mkandawire, T. and C. Soludo (1999). Our Continent, Our Future: African Perspectives on Structural
Adjustment Trenton, Africa World Press. (Yale library)
Center for Global Development, The White House and the World: A Global Development Agenda for the Next U.S. President
The group of students involved (earning New College credit, Honors College credit, and Anthropology credit) will meet once a week with a professor/facilitator; the meetings will take place Monday evenings (except for four times when conflicts have been identified; we will then meet Sunday evenings). The time is tba, but will be for a 2-2.5 hour period between 6 and 9:30pm. Whenever possible, it will include a potluck dinner!
Prior to each class meeting, each student will synthesize and critique that week’s required readings. Each of these essays should be less than two pages in length (double spaced, 1 inch margins, 12 point font) and will be posted on the class blog (UA Students do African Poverty & Western Aid) and/or emailed to each other.
Following each class meeting, each student will evaluate their classmates’ essays and discussion participation on a scale of 1-10 and submit these evaluations to the course instructor/facilitator by the next day. Each student will then receive a weekly grade that is an average of these evaluations. The lowest three of these (13 total) will be dropped. The remaining 10 will be worth 50% of the students’ final grade for this course.
The remaining 50% of the students’ final grade for this course will be based on two critical book reviews. The following details regarding this assignment are from Dr. Blattman’s syllabus (except for the due dates):
You will write two critical book reviews this semester.
The first, due Friday, April 1st at 4pm, is a critical review of Dambisa Moyo’s book, Dead Aid.
The second, due Friday, April 29th at 4pm, is a critical review of Paul Collier’s book, The Bottom Billion.
Each review is to be approximately 10 to 12 double‐spaced pages in length. Margins should be 1 inch, and font should be 12 point.
The purpose of the reviews is for you to critically review the assumptions, theories, and recommendations contained in each book. You should make extensive use of the readings to question these assumptions, provide alternative theories, or alternative recommendations. These reviews are short, so do not waste time with longwinded
introductions, repetition, or repeating material that is in the book or readings. In addition, you should bring in a fresh and original perspective based on your own thoughts, experiences, or outside readings.
If you want to target your analysis and critique to a particular theme, idea, or recommendation within the book, that is fine. Choose wisely. Probably your best strategy, however, is to develop three to five intelligent critiques or ideas and develop each at moderate length. Feel free to discuss this decision with your section leader.
You will be evaluated most of all on the quality and originality of your argument. You can assume your reader has read the book and the course readings, and so you should spend a minimum of time summarizing arguments or material. This is not a book report, and you won’t be rewarded for summarizing content. On the contrary, you will likely be penalized, since others will be filling the same space with original analysis and thoughts.
Week 1: Introduction (Sunday, 23 Jan)
Required
Binyavanga Wainaina (2005). How to Write About Africa. Granta. London, Granta Publications. 92.
Moss, Chapters 1 & 6
Maddison, Angus. 2001. “The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective” OECD. Chapters 1 and 3
Recommended
Binyavanga Wainaina talks about why he wrote How to Write About Africa in these YouTube videos:
Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3
Mkandawire & Soludo, Chapter 1
Benno Ndulu and Stephen O’Connell (2008). “Policy Plus: African Growth Performance 1960‐2000,” in
The Political Economy of Economic Growth in Africa, 1960‐2000. Edited by B. J. Ndulu et al.
Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo (2006). “The Economic Lives of the Poor,” Journal of Economic
Perspectives, 21(1), 141‐167
Week 2: Theories of growth and development (Monday, 31 Jan)
Required
William Easterly (2009) "Can the West Save Africa?," Journal of Economic Literature 47(2). Read
sections 1 and 2 (p.373–391) and skim section 3.
Elhanan Helpman, “The Mystery of Economic Growth,” Chapters 1‐4 (p. 1‐54).
Michael Todaro and Stephen Smith (2009). Economic Development. 10 ed. New York: Addison Wesley.
Chapter 4.
Recommended
Perkins, Dwight H., Steven Radelet, and David L. Lindauer. 2006. Economics of development. 6 ed. New
York: W. W. Norton & Company. (Chapter 4)
Moss, Chapter 10 (p 163‐177 only)
Amartya Sen. 1999. Development as Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee, “Growth Theory Through the Lens of Development Economics”
Pritchett, Lant. 1997. "Divergence, Big Time" The Journal of Economic Perspectives 11 (3):3‐17.
Week 3: Initial conditions (Monday, 7 Feb)
Required
Jared Diamond (1997). Guns, Germs, and Steel. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. (Chapter 4)
Jeffrey Herbst, States and Power in Africa, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000. (Chapter 5)
Sachs, Jeffrey D., Andrew D. Mellinger, and John L. Gallup. 2001. "The geography of poverty and
wealth." Scientific American 284 (3):70‐5.
Stanley L. Engerman and Kenneth L. Sokoloff, Factor Endowments, Inequality, and Paths of
Development among New World Economies, Economia, Fall 2002
Acemoglu, D., S. Johnson, et al. (2003). "Disease and Development in Historical Perspective." Journal of
the European Economic Association 1(2‐3): 397‐405.
Recommended
W. Easterly and R. Levine, “Tropics, germs, and crops: the role of endowments in economic
development” Journal of Monetary Economics, 50:1, January 2003.
Nathan Nunn and Diego Puga (2009) "Ruggedness: The Blessing of Bad Geography in Africa"
Nathan Nunn and Nancy Qian (2009), "The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas"
Week 4: Interlude: The AIDS Crisis (Monday, 14 Feb)
Required
UNAIDS, WHO. AIDS Epidemic Update 2009 (Sub‐Saharan Africa chapter only, p 21‐36)
Ruth Levine and Nandini Oomman. “Global HIV/AIDS Funding and Health Systems: Searching for the
Win‐Win”. JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes: November 2009 ‐ Volume 52 ‐
Issue ‐ pp S3‐S5
Daniel Halperin and Helen Epstein (2004). “Concurrent sexual partnerships help to explain Africa's high
HIV prevalence: implications for prevention”. The Lancet, Volume 364, Issue 9428, p.4‐6.
Suzanne Leclerc‐Madlala “Cultural scripts for multiple and concurrent partnerships in southern Africa:
why HIV prevention needs anthropology” Sexual Health 2009; 6: 103–110.
Elizabeth Pisani (2008). The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDS. New
York, WW Norton & Company. (Chapter 4)
Donald G. McNeil Jr. “Obama Is Criticized on AIDS Program” The New York Times, Dec 8, 2009.
Recommended
Moss, Chapter 10 (p 177‐183 only)
Colleen Denny and Ezekiel Emanuel (2008). “US Health Aid Beyond PEPFAR: The Mother & Child
Campaign” JAMA 300(17): 2048‐2051
Epstein, Helen. “The Invisible Cure: Why We Are Losing the Fight Against AIDS in Africa”, 2008.
Video, "The HIV Superhighway", DKT‐Ethiopia: Part 1 and Part 2.
Sean M. Doylea, James G. Kahnb, Nap Hosangd, Peter R. Carroll. “The Impact of Male Circumcision on
HIV Transmission” The Journal of Urology Volume 183, Issue 1, Pages 21‐26 (January 2010)
Alan Whiteside and Julia Smith. “Exceptional epidemics: AIDS still deserves a global response”
Globalization and Health 2009, 5:15
PEPFAR, “The U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief: Five‐Year Strategy”. December 2009
UNICEF, UNAIDS, WHO, UNFPA. Children and AIDS: Fourth Stocktaking Report 2009
Mead Over (2008). Opportunities for Presidential Leadership on AIDS: From an "Emergency Plan" to a
Sustainable Policy (White House and the World Policy Brief)
TED talks by Seyi Oyesola and Ernest Madu
Week 5: The legacies of slavery and colonialism (Sunday 20 February)
Required
Moss, Chapter 2
Mahmood Mamdani, “Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism,
“Princeton 1996 (Chapter 2)
Jomo Kenyatta, Facing Mount Kenya, p. 305‐6 only
James A. Robinson (2002). "States and Power in Africa by Jeffrey I. Herbst: A Review Essay." Journal of
Economic Literature 40(2): 510‐519.
Crawford Young (2004). "The end of the post‐colonial state in Africa? Reflections on changing African
political dynamics." African Affairs 103(410). p.23‐29 only.
Elhanan Helpman, “The Mystery of Economic Growth,” Chapter 7.
Skim main idea behind: Nathan Nunn, The Long‐Term Effects of Africa’s Slave Trades
Recommended
William Easterly, Alberto Alesina and J. Matuszeski, “Artificial States”, in the Journal of the European
Economic Association, forthcoming
Iliffe, Chapters 9 & 10
Mahmood Mamdani, Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism,
Princeton 1996 (Chapters 1 and 3)
Franz Fanon (2004). The Wretched of the Earth, Grove Press.
Nicola Gennaiolo and Ilia Rainer, “The Modern Impact of Precolonial Centralization in Africa,”
Week 6: Independence and the politics of personal rule (Monday 28 Feb)
Required
Moss, Chapter 3
Fred Hayward. 1986. "In Search of Stability: Independence and Experimentation." in The Africans: A
Reader, ed. A. A. Mazrui et al. New York: Praeger Publishers. (Chapter 6, including readings 6.1 to 6.4,
especially those by Nyerere and Nkrumah)
Jackson, R. H. and C. G. Rosberg (1994). “The Political Economy of African Personal Rule.” Political
Development and the New Realism in Sub‐Saharan Africa. p.291‐322.
Crawford Young (2004). "The end of the post‐colonial state in Africa? Reflections on changing African
political dynamics." African Affairs 103(410): p29‐41 only.
George Ayittey (2005). Africa Unchained, Palgrave Macmillan. (Chapter 3)
Recommended
van de Walle, Introduction
Barkan, Joel D. 2009. "Legislatures, Term Limits and the Containment of Neo‐Patrimonialism in Africa."
In Rethinking Development Conference (25 January). Yale University. (p. 13‐28 only)
Iliffe, Chapter 11
George Ayittey (2005). Africa Unchained, Palgrave Macmillan. (Chapters 5 and 6)
Week 7: Crisis, conflict and reform (Mon 7 March)
Required
van de Walle, Chapters 1‐4
Ravi Kanbur (2008). “The Co‐Evolution of the Washington Consensus and the Economic Development
Discourse”.
Recommended
Moss, Chapters 4 & 7
Mkandawire & Soludo, Chapters 2 & 3
Donald Gordon (2007). “African Politics.” Chapter 4 in Understanding Contemporary Africa. A. A.
Gordon and D. L. Gordon. London, Lynne Rienner Publishers: 86‐107 only.
Williamson, John: What Washington Means by Policy Reform, in: Williamson, John (ed.): Latin American
Readjustment: How Much has Happened, Washington: Institute for International Economics 1989.
Week 8: Foreign aid and the aid industry (Sunday 20 March)
Required
Steven Radelet (2006). A Primer on Foreign Aid, CGD Working Paper 92.
UN Millennium Project, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the
Millennium Development Goals, January 2005 (Chapters 1 and 2)
Michael Clemens and Todd Moss (2005). What's Wrong with the Millennium Development Goals? CGD
Brief.
George Ayittey (1998). Africa in Chaos. (Chapter 8)
van de Walle, Chapter 5
Recommended
Moss, Chapter 8
Eric Werker and Faisal Z. Ahmed (2008). “What Do Nongovernmental Organizations Do?” Journal of
Economic Perspectives 22:2.
Nancy Birdsall (2004). Seven Deadly Sins: Reflections on Donor Failings, CGD Working Paper 50.
Joseph E. Stiglitz (2003). Globalization and Its Discontents. (Chapter 1)
Development Drums, Episode 6
Alesina, A. and D. Dollar (2000). “Who Gives Foreign Aid to Whom and Why?” Journal of Economic
Growth, 5, 33‐64.
William Easterly and Tobias Pfutze, Where Does the Money Go? Best and Worst Practices in Foreign
Aid" Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 22, No.2, Spring 2008
Week 9: Aid, accountability, and reform: A perspective from Africa (Monday 28 March)
Required
Podacast with Binyavanga Wainaina: “The Ethics of Aid: One Kenyan’s Perspective” (or see transcript)
Other readings to be announced
Recommended
TED talks by Ngozi Okonjo‐Iweala
Daniel Etounga‐Manguelle (2000). Does Africa Need a Cultural Adjustment Program? Culture Matters:
How Values Shape Human Progress. L. E. Harrison and S. P. Huntington. New York, Basic Books: 65–77.
William Easterly (2006). “The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done
So Much Ill, and So Little Good.” New York, Penguin Press.
Alex de Waal (1997). “Famine crimes: Politics & the disaster relief industry in Africa.” London : African
Rights & the International African Institute.
April 1st: First book review due. Review Dambisa Moyo’s book, Dead Aid. E‐mail your review to me before 4pm; or, leave a hard copy in my mailbox
Week 10: Aid, democratization, and reform: A perspective from the West (Monday 4 April)
Required
Moss, Chapter 5
William Easterly (2008). "Can the West Save Africa?" Journal of Economic Literature. Sections 3 to end.
Dani Rodrik (2006). “Goodbye Washington Consensus, Hello Washington Confusion? A Review of the
World Bank's Economic Growth in the 1990s: Learning from a Decade of Reform”. Journal of Economic
Literature.
Charles Kenny (2009). “Think Again: Africa's Crisis,” Foreign Policy Magazine.
Other readings to be announced
Recommended
Acemoglu, Daron, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson. 2002. "An African Success Story: Botswana."
In In Search of Prosperity: Analytic Narratives on Economic Growth, ed. D. Rodrik. Princeton: Princeton
University Press.
Ostrom, Elinor, Clark Gibson, Sujai Shivakumar, and Krister Andersson. 2002. "Aid, Incentives, and
Sustainability: An Institutional Analysis of Development Cooperation (Summary Report)." Sida Studies in
Evaluation 02/01:1.
Week 11: Private sector development (Monday 11 April)
Required
President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Statement to the UN General Assembly, 23 Sept 2008.
Thandika Mkandawire (2005), Maladjusted African Economies and Globalisation, Africa Development,
Vol XXX, Nos 1 & 2, 2005, pp 1‐ 33.
Vijaya Ramachandran (2008). Power and Roads for Africa, CGD Essay
Dani Rodrik (2007). Industrial Policy for the 21st Century, in “One economics, many recipes:
Globalization, institutions, and economic growth”. Princeton, Princeton University Press.
Adrian Wood and Kate Jordan, 2000, "Why Does Zimbabwe Export Manufactures and Uganda Not?
Econometrics Meets History," The Journal of Development Studies, vol.27 (2), pages 91 – 116.
Moss, Chapter 13
Recommended
Selassie, Abebe Aemro. 2008. "Beyond Macroeconomic Stability: The Quest for Industrialization in
Uganda." IMF Working Paper 08 (231).
Moss, Chapter 12
Johnson‐Sirleaf, E. and N. Oppenheimer (2008). Aid Is Good, Business Is Better. International Herald
Tribune.
TED talks by Jacqueline Novogratz, Eleni Gabre‐Madhin, and Ngozi Okonjo‐Iweala
Dani Rodrik (2007). The Global Governance of Trade as if Development Really Mattered, in One
economics, many recipes: globalization, institutions, and economic growth. Princeton, Princeton
University Press.
Benn Eifert, Alan Gelb and Vijaya Ramachandran, Business Environment and Comparative Advantage in
Africa: Evidence from the Investment Climate Data, CGD Working Paper 56
World Bank, 2005 World Development Report – A Better Investment Climate for All (Chapter 1)
Week 12: Failed states and civil war (Sunday 17 April)
Required
Human Security Report (2007). Chapter 2 ‐ Towards A New Peace in Africa?
Robert H. Bates (2008). HUWhen Things Fell Apart: State Failure in Late‐Century AfricaUH. Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press. (Chapter 2)
Amos Sawyer (2004). "Violent conflicts and governance challenges in West Africa: the case of the Mano
River basin area." The Journal of Modern African Studies 42(03). p.437‐453 only.
Crawford Young (2004). "The end of the post‐colonial state in Africa? Reflections on changing African
political dynamics." African Affairs 103(410): p.41‐49.
Moss, Chapter 4
Recommended
Bates, Robert, Avner Greif, and Smita Singh. 2002. "Organizing Violence." Journal of Conflict Resolution
46 (5):599‐628.
Crawford Young (2002). "Deciphering Disorder in Africa: Is Identity the Key?" World Politics 54(4).
View at least one TED talk by either Ory Okolloh or Ashraf Ghani
Jeffrey Herbst, States and Power in Africa, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.
Catherine Boone (2003). “Political Topographies of the African State,” Cambridge University Press.
Pierre Englebert (2002). State Legitimacy and Development in Africa, London: Lynne Reinner.
Christopher Blattman and Edward Miguel, “Civil War,” forthcoming in Journal of Economic Literature
Week 13: New democracies, state building, and conclusions (Monday 25 April)
Required
van de Walle, Chapter 6
Claude Ake, “The Feasibility of Democracy in Africa”, p. 75‐92 only.
Amos Sawyer (2004). "Violent conflicts and governance challenges in West Africa: the case of the Mano
River basin area." The Journal of Modern African Studies 42(03). p.453‐463 only.
Weinstein, Jeremy M. 2005. "Autonomous Recovery and International Intervention in Comparative
Perspective." Center for Global Development Working Paper 57.
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.
Recommended
van de Walle, Chapter 7
Moss, Chapters 11 and 14
TED Talk by Euvin Naidoo: Africa as an investment
Valerie Bockstette, Areendam Chanda, and Louis Putterman (2002). States and Markets: the Advantage
of an Early Start, Journal of Economic Growth, 7, 347‐369
Page Fortna (2004). Interstate Peacekeeping: Causal Mechanisms and Empirical Effects, World Politics
Vol. 56, No. 4, July 2004.
Ellen Johnson‐Sirleaf and Steven Radelet. 2008. "The Good News Out of Africa: Democracy, Stability,
and the Renewal of Growth and Development." Center for Global Development Essay (February).
George Ayittey (2005). Africa Unchained, Palgrave Macmillan. (Chapters 8 to 11)
April 29th: Second book review due
Review Paul Collier’s book, The Bottom Billion, especially the last half (Chapters 6 to 11). E‐mail your review to me before 4pm, or submit a hard copy to my mailbox
