versions of his other critiques. His second argument that all the data from Latin America and much of the data from Africa …

presidentialism in Africa and Latin America …

Despite the past centuries' economic setbacks and challenges, are there reasons for optimism about Africa's economic … sets of unrecognized "latent assets." First, success in African society is talent driven and Africa has experienced high … can be a critical basis for building better institutions. Third, Africa is "cosmopolitan." Africans are the most …

Conventional wisdom proposes deep historical roots for authoritarianism in Africa: either colonial "decentralized …

Despite the low levels of taxation and public good provision in Africa, I provide evidence that a large proportion of … its potential threats to the autonomy of society. I show the historic social contracts in Africa rarely featured taxation … the way Africa is governed today …

unwilling to provide basic public goods such as law enforcement, order, education and infrastructure. In Africa this is often … Leone. We also present a hypothesis as to why the extent to which indirect rule has persisted varies greatly within Africa …

explaining patterns of political centralization in Africa …