African politics in comparative perspective
By: Goran Hyden
Edition: Second edition.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Cambridge
Language: eng
Number of pages: 316
ISBN-13: 9781107030473; 9781107651418
Subjects: Politics and government; Comparative government; Political science; POLITICAL SCIENCE / Government / General
Description: "This revised and expanded second edition of African Politics in Comparative Perspective reviews fifty years of research on politics in Africa and addresses some issues in a new light, keeping in mind the changes in Africa since the first edition was written in 2004. The book synthesizes insights from different scholarly approaches and offers an original interpretation of the knowledge accumulated in the field. Goran Hyden discusses how research on African politics relates to the study of politics in other regions and mainstream theories in comparative politics. He focuses on such key issues as why politics trumps economics, rule is personal, state is weak and policies are made with a communal rather than an individual lens. The book also discusses why in the light of these conditions agriculture is problematic, gender contested, ethnicity manipulated and relations with Western powers a matter of defiance"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: 1. The study of politics and Africa; 2. The supremacy of politics; 3. The problematic state; 4. The economy of affection; 5. Big man rule; 6. The policy paradox; 7. The agrarian question; 8. The gender issue; 9. The ethnic factor; 10. The external dimension; 11. What we know and how; 12. Quo vadis Africa?