Journal of Economic Literature
Book Reviews
2026-09-01
Rema Hanna of Harvard University reviews “When Things Fell Apart: State Failure in Late-Century Africa” by Robert H. Bates,. The EconLit Abstract of the reviewed work begins “Examines late-twentieth-century state failure in Africa, focusing on Rwanda, Sudan, Liberia, and Congo. Discusses the move from fable to fact; political legacies; policy choices; subnational tensions; and when things fall apart. Bates is Eaton Professor of the Science of Government, a Faculty Fellow of the Institute for International Development, and a member of the Department of African and African-American Studies at Harvard University. Bibliography; index.”