Thought Provokers
The ‘Nelson Mandela’ You Have Probably Not Heard About
Robert Sobukwe (1924-1978). Leader of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) in South Africa, a focal leader in the struggle against apartheid, Sobukwe was so feared by the apartheid government that after he led a mass non-violence protests to break unjust laws, he was jailed indefinitely for fear of what he might do. A law was […]
Tags: #How Can Man Die Better #Robert Sobukwe #Sobukwe #Sobukwe clause #South Africa
Revolution and Authoritarianism in North Africa
The Arab Spring caught everyone by surprise, but was quickly explained as an expected, inevitable event. How can these largely contradictory narratives be brought together? This is part of the task undertaken in “Revolution and Authoritarianism in North Africa” (2017) by Frederic Volpi. The author writes that the “book strives to retain the implications of […]
Tags: #Arab Spring #Arab Uprising #Authoritarianism #North Africa #Revolution
Stranglehold on Africa
In 1962 Rene Dumont wrote False Start in Africa, which offered unique perspectives for the time period, many of which continue to be relevant. I picked up “Stranglehold on Africa” by Rene Dumont and Marie-France Mottin (1983) hoping to find an equally interesting ideas. I did not find it as good as the earlier work. […]
Tags: #Africa #Agriculture #Development Studies #Rene Dumont #Stranglehold on Africa
Making Sense of the Syrian Tragedy
Few can tell the story of the Syrian revolution better than Yassin Al-Haj Saleh, who has been engaged in political activism in Syria for decades (spending sixteen years in jail for that, and now living in exile). “The Impossible Revolution: Making Sense of the Syrian Revolution” (2017) is Yassin’s first book in English, but he […]
Tags: #Revolution #Syria #Syrian revolution #Tyranny #Yassin Al-Haj Saleh
From Bullets to the Ballot Box
Kinfe Abraham (1950-2007) was one of Ethiopia’s leading academics, although his books are not well known outside of the country. In this post I pull some though provoking quotes and ideas from his 1994 publication “Ethiopia from Bullets to the Ballot Box: The Bumpy Road to Democracy and the Political Economy of Transition”. The book […]
Tags: #Democracy #Ethiopia #History #Kinfe Abraham #Resettlement
Dessalegn Rahmato on de Soto (Property Law)
A previous post covered the main arguments of Dessalegn Rahmato’s “The Peasant and the State: Studies in Agrarian Change in Ethiopia, 1950s-2000s” (2008), this highlights some interesting critiques ofDe Soto’s influential book and argument: “To begin with, by over-emphasizing the determinant role of property law and its legalization de Soto adopts a state-centric view of […]
Tags: #De Soto #Dessalegn Rahmato #Property Law #Property Rights #State
The Peasant and the State
Dessalegn Rahmato is one of Ethiopian social scientists, his ideas and publications have shifted public perceptions on issues of land and the rural smallholder farmers. This posts draws upon his work, “The Peasant and the State: Studies in Agrarian Change in Ethiopia, 1950s-2000s” (2008), which is essential reading for anyone interesting in rural Ethiopia. As […]
Tags: #Agency #Agrarian Change #Dessalegn Rahmato #Ethiopia #Governance
Pioneers of Change in Ethiopia
Bahru Zewde has written an excellent book on the history of the student movement in Ethiopia, this book goes back further, to the late 1800s and early 1900s, exploring the activities and impact of the intellectuals of that time period. The book, “Pioneers of Change in Ethiopia: The Reformist Intellectuals of the Early Twentieth Century” […]
Tags: #Bahru Zewde #Ethiopia #History #Pioneers of change #Reformists
Peasant Households and their Resource Base
A previous post highlighted a publication from Ethiopia, which tend to be lesser known (and harder to find). This post highlights an old publication, similarly challenging to locate copies of, but may prove quite useful for those looking for historical data points for comparability: “Competition and Co-operation: North Ethiopian Peasant Households and their Resource Base” […]
Hunting Causes and Using Them
We frequently read and use claims based on claims of causation. Yet, infrequently do we explore if the claims are well founded, or if the methods are well suited to the claims being made. Nancy Cartwright’s “Hunting Causes and Using Them: Approaches in Philosophy and Economics” (2007) is a valuable resource to better engage with […]
Tags: #Causation #Correlation #Hunting causes and using them #Methods #Statistics
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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