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Education in Afghanistan

Education in Afghanistan

From his doctoral work, Yahia Baiza wrote “Education in Afghanistan: Development, Influences and Legacies since 1901” (2013), published by Routledge. The book covers more than a century (1901-2012), structured around the political eras of the period. As much as this book is about education, it is equally about the context of each time period. This […]

Tags: #Afghanistan #Education #History #Policy #Politics

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Radical Transformational Leadership

Radical Transformational Leadership

This book sat on my shelf for some years, and I’ve since forgotten why or how it landed there. Nonetheless, “Radical Transformational Leadership: Strategic Action for Change Agents” (2017) by Monica Sharma is a blend of self-help and development studies. The book is not published by an academic press (North Atlantic Books) and the author […]

Tags: #Change Agents #Leadership #Strategy #Transformative

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How Big Things Get Done

How Big Things Get Done

Mega projects never seem to get done on time, or on budget. Planners often repeat similar errors due to a lack of data on comparable projects. Fortunately someone has spent a career building a database to provide evidence for understanding them projects and allowing for comparative time and cost comparisons. Summarizing findings, sharing experiences and providing a wide […]

Tags: #Flyvbjerg #How big things get done #Management #Mega projects #Project management

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The Seed Is Mine – The Life of Kas Maine

The Seed Is Mine – The Life of Kas Maine

Written in 1997, following what sounds to be an extensive oral history data collection effort, Charles van Onselen wrote “The Seed is Mine”. The book brings to life the experiences of one, and one who might otherwise not have any other record in the written historical documents (exception on legal note). This book is an […]

Tags: #Apartheid #Ethnography #History #Oral History #South Africa

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The Politics of Ethnicity in Ethiopia

The Politics of Ethnicity in Ethiopia

Part of the Reading Ethiopia series This book was written by Lovise Aalen in 2011 and it is unfortunate that I had not read this book until now, given the geography and topics covered (apologies Dr Aalen if you are out there). The author says this book explores a unique experiment in institutionalizing the politics of […]

Tags: #Ethiopia #Ethnicity #Ethnofederalism #Governance #Politics

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The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen

The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen

In 1997 Diamond wrote the best-seller, “Guns, Germs and Steel”. Nearly three decades later, a similar sounding book (The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen) by Linda Colley shifts the gaze from environmental determinism to political technology (primarily constitutions). The author is a historian and the book is woven around key individuals, which makes the […]

Tags: #Constitution #History #Linda Colley #Political technology

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