Thought Provokers
The Last Post-Cold War Socialist Federation
Semahagn Gashu Abebe’s “The Last Post-Cold War Socialist Federation: Ethnicity, Ideology and Democracy in Ethiopia” (2014) offers a wealth of insight in Ethiopian federalism, with a particular strength of offering depth of constitutional context. Of recent, much has been said of Ethiopia’s “developmental state” approach, less about its “revolutionary democracy”. Semahagn provides useful context on […]
Tags: #Contradictions #Developmental state #Ethiopia #Federalism #Revolutionary democracy
Navigation by Judgement
In development studies and practice we can get excited by new ideas, and over-stretch them. Participation was a cure all, then it became tyranny, and now we have more informed ‘split ladders’ that help determine when, where, why and how participation can work well. The rise of results- and evidence-based decision making was at its […]
Tags: #Development Practice #Development Studies #Evaluation #Learning #Navigation by Judgement
I Write What I Like – Steve Biko
Similar to other giants of the struggle against apartheid, we do not have a book written by Steve Biko that pens his ideas. For Robert Sobukwe, a biography was written, while for Steve Biko, we have a collection of his writings and transcripts, first published in 1978. The book contains powerful ideas, some of which […]
Tags: #Apartheid #I Write What I Like #Power #South Africa #Steve Biko
The Development Dance
The practice of development is messy. Far too often it is much more messy we tend to acknowledge. That messiness often does not appear RCTs or evaluations, but it has a significant impact on the implementation of activities. One of the layers of messiness is the negotiation between donor and recipient governments, covered in Haley […]
Tags: #Development Dance #Development Studies #Donors #International development #Politics
Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance
Institutions have (re)emerged as a popular topic in development studies, particularly after Why Nations Fail (2012). However, the study of institutions and institutional change should trace back to key work of Douglass C. North, namely the 1990 book “Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance”. Given several decades have passed, parts of the book are less […]
Tags: #Douglass C. North #Economics #History #Institutional change #Institutions
An Untold Story of a Medical Disaster in Colonial Africa
“All the villagers, women and children included, gathered, as they did every year, for their injection of Lomidine. The preventative administration of Lomidine to entire populations, then called “total Lomidinization,” was a priority and a source of pride for this postwar colonial health services. The technique’s efficacy was unprecedented: a single injection of Lomidine conferred […]
Tags: #Colonialism #Lomidine #Lomidinization #Sleeping Sickness #trypanosomes
Tewodros of Ethiopia
The history department of Haile Sellassie I University published some excellent works, unfortunately many of these books are difficult to find. I came across “King of Kings: Tewodros of Ethiopia” (1966) by Sven Rubenson not too long ago. The book is short, but a treasure trove of insight as well as direction to unconventional sources […]
Tags: #Ethiopia #Ethiopian state #History #Regime change #Tewodros
Black Skin, White Masks
Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth (1961) is essential reading for anyone interested in anti-colonialism, de-colonialism and post-colonialism. Fanon’s “Black Skin, White Masks” (1952) was his first work, from which a few exerts are given below. For those unfamiliar with Fanon, his writing has influenced revolutionary struggles around the world and his works continue […]
Tags: #Anti-colonialism #Decolonialism #Frantz Fanon #Post-colonialism #The Wretched of the Earth
The Tyranny of Metrics
Jerry Z. Muller’s “The Tyranny of Metrics” (2018) has a title suggestive of an essential read, but in detail it runs thin. The author may have aimed for a broad audience, providing a brief overview. For those versed in the challenges of metrics, this is not your book. Nonetheless, there are some interesting points, including: […]
Tags: #Accountability #Evaluation #Metrics #Transparency #Tyranny of Metrics
Social Movements and Market Transformations
In the 1990s and into the 2000s, there were effective treatments for AIDS, yet the poorest countries and people did not have access to them. How did the global transformation come about whereby treatments became more readily available, and in most countries in the Global South free? Kapstein and Busby outline how this transformation took […]
Tags: #Advocacy #HIV/AIDS #Market transformation #Social Movement #Theory of strategic moral action
About me
Logan Cochrane
Associate Professor at HBKU in the College of Public Policy. He is an Associate Fellow of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences and an Adjunct Professor at Hawassa University (Institute for Policy and Development Research). Over the last fifteen years, he has worked in Afghanistan, Benin, Burundi, Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Logan acts as a consultant for governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations, seeking to create bridges between research and practice.
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