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The New Age of Empire
Kehinde Andrews’ 2021 book “The New Age of Empire: How Racism and Colonialism Still Rule the World” was celebrated by many (Kimberle Crenshaw, Russel Brand, Ibram X Kendi, and a host of book reviewers) and critiqued by a few (book reviewers). The author is the first professor of Black Studies in the UK. I assume […]
Debtfare States and the Poverty Industry
In 2014, Susanne Soederberg published “Debtfare States and the Poverty Industry: Money, Discipline and the Surplus Population” presenting a unique counter-narrative to many of the global development buzzwords (such as financial inclusion). The book focuses on examples in two countries, each with unique examples. In the US, the author examines credit cards, student loans and […]
The Postcolonial African State in Transition
I have had Amy Niang’s 2018 “The Postcolonial African State in Transition: Stateness and Modes of Sovereignty” in my to-read pile for too long, and I am glad I finally got to it. This is a heavy book, but one that makes really interesting contributions and raises thought provoking questions. In the opening, the author […]
Poisoner in Chief
The use of a wide range of mind destroying drugs in secret sites around the world and doing so on non-consenting people by the CIA is detailed in the book “Poisoner in Chief Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control” (2019) by Stephen Kinzer. It took a long time for what was done to […]
Only the Paranoid Survive
Tech gurus have cited “Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company” (1996) by Andrew Grove as one of the most influential books they have read. Grove was the CEO of Intel. The book was written in 1996, several tech generations ago. In reading this, I was less interested […]
Poverty and Charity in Medieval Islam
Adam Sabra’s historical work “Poverty and Charity in Medieval Islam: Mamluk Egypt, 1250-1517” (2000) is a unique contribution of historical studies (shifting the gaze to everyday life). The book covers ideas regarding poverty (in contrast with forms of asceticism), an assessment of poverty of the era, forms of charitable giving (and the jurisprudence thereof), and […]
Zero to One
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future (2014) by Peter Thiel (founder of PayPal and major startup funder thereafter) and Blake Masters (who took a course with Peter at Stanford, and using the extensive course notes produced the basis for this book). The crux of the book is vertical innovation […]
The Asian Aspiration
The Asian Aspiration: Why and How Africa Should Emulate Asia (2020), written by two Brenthurst Foundation employees (Greg Mills and Emily Van Der Merwe) and two former African leaders (Olusegun Obasanjo and Hailemariam Desalegn). The bulk of the book is 10 chapters presenting country case studies from Asia (including: Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, the […]
The Act of Living
NOTE: This was a book review that was published in 2020. As a country with sustained levels of high macro-economic growth, Ethiopia has been suggested as amongst Africa’s Lions (Bhorat and Tarp, 2016), an economic grouping envisioned as potentially following the Asian Tigers of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. Macro-economic growth does […]
Rural Ethiopia in Transition
The WIDE project in Ethiopia is one of the few long-term qualitative projects following rural areas (starting rural research in 1994, and following the changes since). There are 20 communities being followed, unfortunately the so-called “emerging regions” are not included (Afar, Benishagul Gumuz, Gambella, Somali). The book “Rural Ethiopia in Transition – Selected Discussion Briefs, […]
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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