Governance
Hard Truths from Lee Kuan Yew
First printed in 2011, and reprinted in 2023, “Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going” is a question and answer style book based on interviews conducted with Lee Kuan Yew. The discussions were held over many sessions (edited by Kwang, Ibrahim, Hoong, Lim, Low, Lin and Chan). The interesting part about this book is that it […]
Tags: #Governance #Leaders #Leadership #Singapore #Social Cohesion #Talent
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
Kinship, State Formation and Governance in the Arab Gulf States
Compared to other regions, there are few books about the GCC, and specifically Qatar. I try to track new publications and I came across “Kinship, State Formation and Governance in the Arab Gulf States” by Scott J. Weiner (2022), which was published by Edinburgh University Press. The book is covers Kuwait, Oman and Qatar (the latter less so compared […]
How Democracies Die
We tend to assume that democratic processes, norms and structures are ‘sticky’ and rarely ‘die’. The cases we might think about are those that ended due to war and conflict, with the emergence of dictatorship in the form of fascism or military rule. In “How Democracies Die” (2018) Levitsky and Ziblatt provide a clear counter-narrative, […]
Tags: #Democracy #Governance #Norms #Political Science #Politics
A Diplomat’s Memoir of South Sudan
When I first came across Nicholas Coghlan’s “Collapse of a Country: A Diplomat’s Memoir of South Sudan” (2017), I passed it up. Memoirs can be interesting, but not always great (unless you are interested in the day to day activities and experiences, often without in-depth contextualization). However, while on route to South Sudan myself, I […]
Tags: #Accountability #Conflict resolution #Governance #Nicholas Coghlan #South Sudan
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
Civil Society and the Aid Industry
Civil society is said to provide “the agents of change that will cure a range of social and economic ills left by failures of government and the marketplace: autocracy, poverty, disenfranchisement, oppression, social malaise. Cornucopian expectations for social change have been heaped on this idea and, indeed, for some Northern donors in particular (both official […]
The Challenge of Democracy from Below
Edited volumes do not tend to have staying power as a publication – collections of essays pass like most academic articles. Rarely does an edited volume remain an essential reading for decades. “Ethiopia: The Challenge of Democracy from Below” edited by Bahru Zewde and Siegfried Pausewang (2002) is one of those books. A number of […]
Tags: #Democracy #Ethiopia #Governance #Participation #Power
From Dictatorship to Democracy
One of the world’s leading thinkers and activists for advancing democratic governance through non-violent action is Gene Sharp. He founded the Albert Einstein Institute and is a multiple-time nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, as well as recipient of many other notable awards. He has authored many books, but one of his most influential and most widely […]
Tags: #Democracy #Dictatorship #Gene Sharp #Governance #Nonviolence
Post-doc: Population Data
Population Data BC is seeking a Postdoctoral Fellow or Research Associate for a two-year term, with possibility for extension, to take significant leadership in a timely applied research project that will engage with the public to reform governance of access to research resources. Developments in data, technology, researcher desires, and public expectations have outpaced the […]
About me
Logan Cochrane
Logan is a 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 twenty 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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