Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine? Is it culture, the weather, geography?
Perhaps ignorance of what the right policies are? Simply, no. None of these factors is either definitive or destiny. Otherwise, how to explain why Botswana has become one of the fastest growing countries in the world, while other African nations, such as Zimbabwe, the Congo, and Sierra Leone, are mired in poverty and violence?
Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson conclusively show that it is man-made political and economic institutions that underlie economic success (or lack of it). Korea, to take just one of their fascinating examples, is a remarkably homogeneous nation, yet the people of North Korea are among the poorest on earth while their brothers and sisters in South Korea are among the richest. The south forged a society that created incentives, rewarded innovation, and allowed everyone to participate in economic opportunities.
The economic success thus spurred was sustained because the government became accountable and responsive to citizens and the great mass of people. Sadly, the people of the north have endured decades of famine, political repression, and very different economic institutions—with no end in sight. The differences between the Koreas is due to the politics that created these completely different institutional trajectories.
Based on fifteen years of original research Acemoglu and Robinson marshall extraordinary historical evidence from the Roman Empire, the Mayan city-states, medieval Venice, the Soviet Union, Latin America, England, Europe, the United States, and Africa to build a new theory of political economy with great relevance for the big questions of today, including: - China has built an authoritarian growth machine.
Will it continue to grow at such high speed and overwhelm the West? - Are America’s best days behind it? Are we moving from a virtuous circle in which efforts by elites to aggrandize power are resisted to a vicious one that enriches and empowers a small minority? - What is the most effective way to help move billions of people from the rut of poverty to prosperity?
More philanthropy from the wealthy nations of the West? Or learning the hard-won lessons of Acemoglu and Robinson’s breakthrough ideas on the interplay between inclusive political and economic institutions? Why Nations Fail will change the way you look at—and understand—the world."
Chief, the NuriaStore bookseller –
I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb
I’ve always liked reading about Pakistan. Malala’s book tells a lot about the presence of Taliban and the consequences of this presence on local people in Pakistan but it also gives a large amount of information concerning the country including its languages, cultures, ethnic groups and the beautiful Swat Valley.
Malala’s narrative starts in 2012, when she was shot by Taliban in the head in a school bus. Malala, as a teenage girl, wants to go to school and continue with her education after Taliban interruption in her region. She becomes quite popular in her region and in Pakistan as well because she is not only a successful student but also an activist for female education and human rights. Taliban, regarding her as a threat for the system they set up, targets her in a school bus and tries to kill her. Malala survives and is brought to England for treatment.
The story then goes back to the past and gives detailed information concerning Malala’s parents and their lives before their marriage, Malala’s birth, her early childhood and school years. Readers dive also deep into the history of Pakistan with its ethnic communities, presidents, governments and relationships with other countries in her narrative.
One of the first things you will notice in a second when you are reading this book will be this young lady’s strong bond with books and the world of literature. She adores her school bag and every single book she carries in it. She quotes from some important works of literature which she obviously devoured as soon as she got access to them. Her books serve as a shelter, a tunnel to a world of peace for her whenever she feels herself caged. Her books and her trust in education give her power to fight injustice. I adored her determination. Malala’s story is definitely worth reading it.