Things Come Together

For decades, Africa was falling apart. But now it is coming together, and Africans are achieving greatness. Despite the advances, though, the twenty-first century brings challenges to match each and every major opportunity. In Things Come Together, Robert Rotberg brings all of contemporary Africa into a single volume, extolling the successes and explaining the struggles. Rotberg is one of the world’s foremost authorities on African politics and society, and in this book he synthesizes his knowledge of the continent into a concise overview of the current state of Africa and where it is likely headed. To that end, Rotberg considers Africa’s myriad peoples. The continent is currently experiencing explosive population growth and rapid urbanization. How well are African states managing this epochal shift? He looks at how Africa’s nations are governed, ranging from states with autocratic kleptocrats to democratized regimes that have made progress in achieving economic growth and battling corruption. He then turns to African economies, looking at growth levels, productivity, and persistent corruption. He concludes by filling in the picture, covering the effects of war, health care, wildlife management, varieties of religious belief, education, technology diffusion, and the character of both city and village life in this ever-evolving region. Throughout this sweeping work, Rotberg deftly moves readers across the continent, from Nigeria to South Africa, from Kenya to Senegal, to name a few. While there are undeniable cross-continental commonalities related to governance, demographics, and economic performance, he shows the unique variations of who and what is African. For anyone interested in reading a comprehensive yet pithy synthesis of a vast region possessing the world’s fastest-growing population, this book is the ideal introduction.