The Shackled Continent: Power, Corruption, and African Lives (Hardcover)

by Robert Guest (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Guest, African editor of Economist, tackles the vexing issue of Africa’s continuing poverty, and offers a surprising blunt answer. Africa is a shackled continent because of the abuse of power by "vampire states": authoritarian governments that have failed their people comprehensively. Guest details their abuses thoroughly. An emphasis on exploiting mineral resources neglects other aspects of economic development. Property rights are rarely secure in law or practice. AIDS ravages entire populations. Tribal loyalties overshadow state identities. Western aid is siphoned off by thugs and bureaucrats, or displaces the private investment that is the only basis for long-term economic growth. Comprehensive corruption discourages the mutual trust required for complex systems to function effectively. Technological innovation is discouraged by government micromanagement. A particularly scathing chapter focusing on Zimbabwe and South Africa describes how post-liberation governments and their supporting elites take the short cut of expropriating assets instead of developing their own. As a cure, Guest recommends "simple ideas, rigorously applied." Governments must concentrate on providing basics: primary education, essential health care, piped water. Elites must stop spending other people’s money on limousines, mansions and first-class flights to conferences. Finally, Africans must stop arguing that Africa’s problems are someone else’s fault. Guest recognizes that the economic modernization he advocates comes with a price, but he is nonetheless optimistic. Readers may be moved enough to find ways of being so, too.
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Product Description
A scathing critique of Africa's governments by the Africa editor at The Economist.

Why is Africa so poor? Why are so many of its nations at war? Why is AIDS devastating Africa like nowhere else? And why do African entrepreneurs find it so hard to borrow money? In this provocative and thoughtful book, Guest argues that the continent remains poor primarily because it is badly governed. Since the colonial powers pulled out, the autocrats who largely replaced them have struggled to keep order, let alone create an atmosphere conducive to economic development. The results have been devastating: Two-fifths of African nations are at war, AIDS has lowered life expectancy to as young as 40 years, lack of collateral makes investment almost impossible, and foreign aid has had very little effect on the daily lives of the poor. The Shackled Continent provides a persuasive look into the persistent problems of modern Africa and offers some possible solutions. What Africa needs is peace, the rule of law, and greater freedom for individuals to pursue prosperity without hindrance from their rulers. The prescription may sound simple, but it is tough to administer, as Guest's investigations from Angola to Zimbabwe reveal.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Smithsonian (September 17, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158834214X
• ISBN-13: 978-1588342140
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #613,087 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tragedy and hope, September 12, 2004

By	Pieter "Toypom" (Johannesburg) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

The author shares his experiences of Sub-Saharan Africa, exploring the reasons for the region's abject poverty and suffering. Guest takes into account factors like for example climate and history, whilst quoting African writers like Chinua Achebe, Themba Sono and Chenjerai Hove.

Amidst all the despair, the text often highlights rays of hope so the book is not a relentless tale of woe. Guest identifies issues like tribalism and corruption and the waste of aid money while pointing out positive developments in places like Botswana, South Africa, Uganda and Senegal.

The author examines the good results in countries that follow sound fiscal and monetary policies as opposed to the vampire state in places like Zimbabwe or the failed state in e.g. Congo (Zaire). A very important point that Guest makes is that Africa can develop and improve the lives of its people without sacrificing its culture. Japan is proof enough that modernity does not necessarily threaten an indigenous culture.

He discusses Rwanda's holocaust and religious clashes in Nigeria, takes a balanced look at South Africa's successes and its failures like its lack of an AIDS policy and criticises western countries for their agricultural protectionism. Apparently Africa has already received the equivalent of six Marshall Plans in aid and in some places mineral wealth has been more of a curse than a blessing.

Guest makes a plea for increased trade and praises the stability that exists in those countries where property rights are respected. He also surveys the situation of the media, where both oppression and lack of money are impediments to a free press. The book ends on an optimistic note with the example of a young man in the KwaZulu province of South Africa having become a successful businessman after abandoning a life of violence.

The book concludes with bibliographic notes and an index. The Shackled Continent can be heartbreaking at times, but the overall tone is optimistic, and realistically so. The book leaves an impression of hope and the reader can only pray that good government may soon come to Africa. The poignant title of South Africa's national anthem by Enoch Sontonga, says it all: "Nkosi sikelele i'Afrika", meaning God bless Africa.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Shackled Continent - Robert Guest, August 12, 2007

By	Mikko "Mikko" (Finland) - See all my reviews

An awesome read! Thrilling to read text that flows with examples, but still the writer makes very justified conclusions.

On the latter part of the book, one of the chapters began dragging and getting disoriented from Africa slightly towards Asia. Anyhow, Guest has a good command of history and economics, so fine and even unique are some of the comparisons. The text is supported by notes.

To conclude: I enjoyed reading facts, sad ones, as in a suspense thriller.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Shackle Continent, January 26, 2007

By	Saleh Al Shaqsy (Oman) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Shackled Continent: Power, Corruption, and African Lives (Hardcover)

Its amazing it's really good when you read you dont need to stop also when you finish reading you feel like reading it again, it is all true story , when i give to my friend to read they always ask me where did you buy this we also want to buy the same. I am not sure if the author was against Mugabe on this book I dont know much about him but i saw his speaches it looks that he is intelligent and a good politition too. I visited Zimbabwe and what the author described it is 100 % true the people and the country, even the farms visited by me were dead.
NO ONE SHOULD MISS READING THIS BOOK It opens out our minds and shows us the way we human being act/change when we become on the top and also how we end up.

Thanks to the author of this book Excellent and hope to get more from him especially of the Middle east if possible

Shaqsy