What makes the experience of African countries an important lesson about social movements for good governance?
Consider where Africa is coming from on issues of resource management and resource conflicts—whether on how resource economies are managed, or how governments have mobilized resource wealth to prosecute wars. The literature on conflict in Africa has discussed this in terms of greed or grievance. But the larger issue is that government should exist for the benefit of the people. It should provide electricity, roads, education, health and other basic services. People talk of a failed state when these are lost. This is what happened in Somalia, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In recent years, we’ve had the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Good Governance, which recognizes excellence in African leadership. What is worrisome is that for two years running, no one has been found qualified for the award. In a continent of 53 countries, many of which are supposedly committed to the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), this is an indictment of African leaders’ govern
