African Politics in Comparative Perspective

This expanded second edition of African Politics in Comparative Perspective reviews fifty years of research on politics in Africa.

Goran Hyden (Author)

9781107030473, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 15 October 2012

322 pages, 5 b/w illus. 9 tables
23.6 x 15.6 x 2 cm, 0.56 kg

'In this synthetic work pulling together decades worth of scholarship, especially in his discipline of political science, Hyden puts forth his best efforts … Policy makers and journalists who find themselves dropped into Africa without any particular training should place this book on their shelves after reading it closely so that they can refer to it often.' Derek Catsam, Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa

This revised and expanded second edition of African Politics in Comparative Perspective reviews fifty years of research on politics in Africa and addresses some issues in a new light, keeping in mind the changes in Africa since the first edition was written in 2004. The book synthesizes insights from different scholarly approaches and offers an original interpretation of the knowledge accumulated in the field. Goran Hyden discusses how research on African politics relates to the study of politics in other regions and mainstream theories in comparative politics. He focuses on such key issues as why politics trumps economics, rule is personal, state is weak and policies are made with a communal rather than an individual lens. The book also discusses why in the light of these conditions agriculture is problematic, gender contested, ethnicity manipulated and relations with Western powers a matter of defiance.

1. The study of politics and Africa
2. The supremacy of politics
3. The problematic state
4. The economy of affection
5. Big man rule
6. The policy paradox
7. The agrarian question
8. The gender issue
9. The ethnic factor
10. The external dimension
11. What we know and how
12. Quo vadis Africa?

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB]