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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Evangelical democracy, 14 Jul 2009
I've lived in Nairobi, and worked in Bosnia. So I'd seen the NGO gravy-train in all its sordid splendor, confirming my opinion that "aid is a method of transferring money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries".
At the same time I believed that we should be exporting democracy at the point of a bayonet...for everyone's sake. But it didn't seem to be working, and I didn't know why.
'Wars Guns & Votes' was recommended to me by an old Kenya hand, because it speaks about these issues - and more. Professor Collier's book explains why aid is currently likely to do as much damage as good. But he goes on to suggest plausable ways to mend the problem.
Similarly, reading this book has convinced me that we have all been kidding ourselves about the sham democracy that African elections so often disguise. Insisting that Presidents simply allow a vote achieves nothing. But linking a more accountable aid scheme with nation-building, military support and a real democracy in the way he suggests here might just bring the boat home.
I hope some big cheese reads this book, and is brave enough to take its advice to heart. But to anyone who is trying to form an opinion about Africa's political future, this book is also a must. It's sometimes a little drawn out, but on the whole Collier's self effacing style overcomes his need to produce the sort of lofty academic tome that usually flourishes in centres of higher learning.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Even beter than the Bottom Billion?, 22 April 2009
I came late to the Bottom Billion and by the time I had finished it this sequel had just arrived. I got it straight away. It follows the same approach of using rigorous academic analysis and then drawing conclusions and action plans.
The analysis of elections, ethnic identity, coups and wars is stimulating and set in the context of UK, US and European developments, not least in that mysterious period in UK history between the end of the Romans and somewhere around 1500 - which is much like Africa today. The proposals for progress are sensible and are built around accountability and security. The penultimate chapter title is "Better dead than fed" and sums up the relationship between food (survival) and the opportunities from federations.
Readers of the Bottom Billion will be pleased to know that this book includes a full list of the countries in an appendix. Both books went to press before the "Lehman disconnect" and the onset of the latest financial and economic crisis: we must hope that the third in the series will not be called the bottom two billion. Some countries, such as Pakistan which gets a passing mention, seem determined to join Afghanistan and the five Central Asian states in the list - and none seem inclined to leave.
In truth, the book mostly concentrates on Africa - anyone wanting to know more about the likes of Bolivia, Cambodia, the Central Asian states or Haiti will not find much here other than general principles.
Professor Collier has an engaging style and as well as being stimulating it is a good read as well. He is a master of the colon: I know of no other book with as many. His occasional intemperate outbursts are a joy. This is a really good book for anyone interested in the world around them, Africa, aid, the application of academic research to real-life problems - and on many other levels too. Recommended.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Changing Reality, 29 Jul 2009
The last chapter of Collier's excellent and readable book, is called Changing Reality. And that is what really matters. Can his prescriptions for stopping wars and allowing development to take place in the world's poorest and most unstable countries be turned into reality? I believe so. Not least if enough people - including some big cheeses as suggested in another review - read it. The proposal that war and guns are one of the main causes of global poverty is not so new - though it is excellent to see it analysed as thoroughly as Collier does here. The question is what to do about it. In recent years, the answers have all been about building up the capacity to stop wars and conflicts. And the debate has been about whether the African Union could do this, or the UN? Or would it take NATO or the USA? What Collier does is refocus the debate on preventing wars, not ending them. Normally, preventing wars leads to discussions of arms control. And Collier discusses that here. But he's realistic about what can be done along porous borders, and so he looks for other ways too. His big solution is the "security guarantee": If a credible outside force says that it will intervene to stop any attempted coup, then many of the wars we have seen could be prevented. Preventing wars of course costs less lives and less money than ending them - though results in fewer medals. The question which Collier leaves us with, is whether we would be prepared for our armed forces to provide that guarantee. Given current actions in Afghanistan, that is a tough question for our society. But Collier has some tough answers as to why it really would be worth it. If you doubt it, keep your mind open and read the book.
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by Michela Wrong
