The Trouble with Africa Why Foreign Aid Isn't Working Robert Calderisi

Calderisi shows that Africa has steadily lost markets by its own mismanagement; that corrupt, dictatorial regimes have hobbled agriculture, enterprise and foreign investment; that African family values and fatalism are more destructive than tribalism; and that African leaders prey intentionally on Western guilt. Calderisi exposes the shortcomings and indulgences of foreign aid and debt relief, and proposes his own radical solutions. Drawing on many years of first hand experience, "The Trouble with Africa" highlights issues which have been ignored by Africa's leaders but have long worried ordinary Africans, diplomats, academics, business leaders, aid workers, volunteers and missionaries. It ripples with stories which only someone who has talked directly to African farmers - and heads of state - could recount.

Robert Calderisi studied at the Universities of Montreal, Oxford, Sussex and London. He has had a thirty-year career in international development, principally at the World Bank, where between 1997 and 2000 he was the Bank's international spokesperson on Africa.

'A personal narrative of engagement with a beguiling but maddening continent, avoiding the familiar positions among old African hands of either expressing contempt or excusing failure.' -The Financial Times

'...a fluent, deeply personal account of how aid has failed Africa, and how Africa, so often, has managed to fail itself.' - The Economist

'A brilliant, striking book.' -Ralph Benson, Irish Times

'In The Trouble with Africa Calderisi brings you up close to the corruption, greed and incompetence that bedevil the continent. He echoes the shocking truth put forward in recent books, that resource -- and talent-rich countries, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, are actually sliding backwards.' - Matthew Rock, Business Voice

'Calderisi's The Trouble with Africa is the most original of the three, with its refreshing frankness about the drags on development caused by dysfunctional political systems.' - Alex De Waal, Times Literary Supplement'Robert Calderisi sets out his views with candour. His narrative style is always lucid, accessible and not unentertaining ... it is in fact an easy and engaging read. Calderisi seems to have a real sense of the obstacles that hold back Africa's economies, although many people will no doubt quibble with his solutions.' Ronald Mutebi, Literary Review

'Attempts to move beyond the "hang-wringing political correctness" which dominates most discussions about Africa to concentrate on steps that Africa and the rest of the world can take to liberate talent and enterprise in that part of the world. The "Ten Ways of Changing Africa" (chapter 12) should be wisely read.' -Long Range Planning

'The Trouble with Africa debunks widely held myths, and will stimulate an important, ongoing debate. Calderisi "worries that the book might comfort conservatives and cynics". In our context, it might well prove to be grist to the mill of Afro-pessimists. But the book's realisms can also be read as an impassioned plea for the economic and ethical rejuvenation of various African communities.' Michael Titlestadt, Sunday Times