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 –
HOW RAILA ESCAPED EXECUTION:
A US embassy official, Mr Allan Eastham, told RAILA that they had intelligence indicating that the government was in advance stages of preparing his execution, he told him that the impending arrest was not to be an ordinary arrest but rather .. an arrest that would cause him bodily harm if not lead to his death, he advised him to be safe and careful.
The police raided his offices at Agip house but missed him since he had gone to Orengo’s office within the same building, a team of Lawyers led by Mrs Karua were called in to witness the siege, this foiled the raid and the police called it a day promising to keep the hunt.After a night in Orengo’s house, Nyong’o, RAILA and Orengo felt that the house was also not safe, they had to find a safer place to hide Raila from the state.
They made a decision to take him Dr kituyi house, Nyong’o drove him to his new home,RAILA stayed with Dr Kituyi family for a week while the special branch hunted down for him. On the first night at Kituyi home, the police raided his house in Kileleshwa.Ida having been used to the battle refused to open the door, insisting Raila was not home, she pretended to be searching for keys while in fact she was calling the press.
She asked the watchman to count the officers in the compound, when he reached 17, he was beaten to black out.After a week, the time to move RAILA to another location came, Kituyi’s wife, Mrs Ling was charged with the responsibility of driving him to the US embassy.
She changed RAILA beards, fixed him with glasses & a wig, she sat him behind while Dr Kituyi following closely with Nyong’oThe trip to the embassy was successful but they refused to host him for fear of crossing President Moi path.
From the embassy Nyong’o and Muite drove Raila to Loresho where he stayed with Jalang’o Onyango for a week as they crafted the next course of action.The Catholic church took the issue of Raila a week later, he moved to his sister in law house to meet his children and promised them that he’ll never go back to Detention.
A white American nun and father Opiyo got RAILA out of Nairobi.They dressed Raila as a priest, gave him glasses and shaved his head clean, RAILA became a completely different person after the changes, sitting at the back, RAILA read newspapers as they passed the numerous roadblocks mounted on the road by the police.When they reached the catholic station in Kisumu, they booked RAILA under the name Father Augustine from Machakos, he was later transferred to Rang’ala mission station and was booked under the same name.
His father sent a car to pick him.At 4 pm, RAILA ODINGA was moved to Olago Beach where he was to be smuggled out of the country through the lake, he boarded the diesel-powered boat and began his voyage to Uganda, they passed by Ndeda Island to pick up some passengers and left for Uganda at 8pm.After 2 hrs, Hezron Orori, the navigator announced that they were in Uganda, a heavy storm hit the lake later & Orori wife began to shiver, Raila lent her his jacket & faced the unforgiving cold himself, he turned to a bottle of Vodka given to him by a friend to get some warmth.
He spent the night at Sigulu. With the help of sympathetic Kenyans and Tanzanians living in Uganda, he acquired Ugandan papers, but changed his name to Joseph Ojiwa Wadenya.Once in Kampala, he was hosted by one of his friends who worked in his company, the friend reported his arrival to UNHCR, the UNHCR advised Raila to remain underground since the Kenyan government had sent special officers to kidnap him and send him back home.
To be moved out of Uganda, RAILA had to be disguised once more, Ahmed Sayyid Farah, a Somali national who was the UNHCR country representative in Uganda decided that they were not going to take chances.
Farah got RAILA ODINGA a kanzu with a fez and a jacket similar to those of Uganda Muslims to wear. His name was also changed from Wadenya to Haji Omar, going to mecca for pilgrimage, when he reached Oslo not even his blood sisters who waiting for him could recognize him