678 results found for ""
Beginning with Heidegger
Millerman draws our attention to Heidegger as a source of key philosophical and political contributions that have shaped thought since his contributions in Beginning with Heidegger (2020). I came across Millerman via Dugin, some of whose books he has translated into English. This book is a slightly modified version of Michael Millerman’s 2018 PhD thesis with the […]
Democracy and Development in Africa
While a visiting scholar at Brookings, Claude Ake wrote “Democracy and Development in Africa” (1995), published by Brookings. As nearly three decades have passed, I focus less on the specifics (e.g., agricultural policy recommendations) and highlight the general arguments, a few notes: “Many factors have been offered to explain the apparent failure of the development […]
When McKinsey Comes to Town
As an expose of McKinsey, this book focuses on the most questionable and problematic aspects of the company’s work. Selection bias aside, the authors (Walt Bogdanich & Michel Forsythe) document a company seeking profits by any means: improving tobacco sales while knowledge the harmful effects, improving opioid sales amidst a peak of overdose deaths, human […]
Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat
In search of a book about Egyptian political leaders, I came across very little. An earlier post covered a book by the spouse of Gamal Abdel Nasser. Amazon put me on to the book “Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat: The Presidents Who Shaped Modern Egypt” (2014) by Charles River Editors. Disappointing. Partly brief biography […]
Imagining Afghanistan
Quite a number of books have followed in the tradition of Edward Said, critiquing and contesting the manufacturing of narratives. Nivi Manchanda’s “Imagining Afghanistan” The History and Politics of Imperial Knowledge” (2020) provides a deep dive into those narratives of Afghanistan. Chapters of the book explore the use of “tribe” and “tribalism”, the colonial construction […]
God’s Unruly Friends
I discovered “God’s Unruly Friends: Dervish Groups in the Islamic Middle Period 1200-1550” (2006) by Ahmet Karamustafa largely by accident (it was a footnote in another book I had read). The title got me, but it sat on the shelf for a while until I got to it. The book itself is quite short, the […]
Nasser: My Husband
The American University of Cairo published “Nasser: My Husband” (2013) by Tahia Gamal Abdul Nassar. The book was translated from an earlier Arabic version. For anyone interested in the personal life of Nasser, this provides some insight. It comparatively provides little on his political and military experiences – if one is after that information, better […]
The Silk Roads
In a random bookshop in Kathmandu I came across “The Silk Roads: A New History of the World” (2015) by Peter Frankopan. Having taught Global Political Economy in the past and gone through a number of textbooks (which are largely centered on the Euro-West and its perspectives on global matters) I was hoping this book […]
Against Decolonization
In 2022, Olufemi Taiwo published “Against Decolonization: Taking African Agency Seriously” in the African Arguments series by Hurst. The book is provocative and makes some valuable contributions. I also find that the book has some faulty arguments of the straw man and red herring types. For example, in defining decolonization the way he does (see […]
King of the Castle
I picked up King of the Castle by Gai Eaton (1990) largely by accident. I saw someone reading the book on a flight; both the author and the book brief sounded unique, so I ordered a copy. A few quotes: “Since unbelief lies at the root of almost all that is said or thought or […]
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.
Featured Posts
Tags
Africa Agriculture Anthropology Books Capitalism Civil society Climate change Colonialism Colonization Conflict Culture decolonization Democracy Development Development Studies Economics Education Ethics Ethiopia Ethnography Fellowship Food Security Gender Globalization Governance History Human Rights Inequality Interdisciplinary International development Islam Justice Land Leadership Middle East Migration Participation Philosophy Policy Politics Post-doc Poverty Power Qatar Racism Resilience Revolution Rural Development South Africa SustainabilitySubscribe to receive new blog posts via email