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Big ideas Big policies, I really hope for a better world in our future. ( )

"Global poverty, Paul Collier points out, is actually falling quite rapidly for
about eighty percent of the world. The real crisis lies in a group of about 50
failing states, the bottom billion, whose problems defy traditional approaches
to alleviating poverty. In The Bottom Billion, Collier contends that these
fifty failed states pose the central challenge of the developing world in the
twenty-first century. The book shines a much needed light on this group of
small nations, largely unnoticed by the industrialized West, that are dropping
further and further behind the majority of the world's people, often falling
into an absolute decline in living standards. A struggle rages within each of
these nations between reformers and corrupt leaders - and the corrupt are
winning. Collier analyzes the causes of failure, pointing to a set of traps
that snare these countries, including civil war, a dependence on the extraction
and export of natural resources, and bad governance. Standard solutions do not
work against these traps, he writes; aid is often ineffective, and
globalization can actually make matters worse, driving development to more
stable nations. What the bottom billion need, Collier argues, is a bold new
plan supported by the Group of Eight industrialized nations. If filed states
are ever to be helped, the G8 will have to adopt preferential trade policies,
new laws against corruption, and new international charter, and even conduct
carefully calibrated military interventions." --back cover

A sober, often counterintuitive roadmap for global development. Part academic analytics, part quite manifesto, "The Bottom Billion" is poignet, timely and surprisingly readable. ( )

A sober, often counterintuitive roadmap for global development. Part academic analytics, part quite manifesto, "The Bottom Billion" is poignet, timely and surprisingly readable. ( )