Autocrats and African presidents
One of the books in my current reading list is The Trouble with Africa: Why Foreign Aid Is Not Working by Robert Calderisi. Riveting stuff. Calderisi writes: “ ‘Continued rule for half a generation must turn a man into an autocrat,’ thought Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes and author of The Great Boer War (1901), ‘The old president (Paul Kruger) has said himself that when one gets a good ox to lead the team it is a pity to change him. If a good ox however is left to choose his own direction without guidance, he may draw his wagon into trouble.’ ” Calderisi, a former World Bank senior official who for many years worked in Africa, then adds his own voice: “One wishes that later African presidents could be described so indulgently.”