Publications
- Lost Decades: Lessons from Post-Independence Latin America for Today's Africa
- Download: PDF 122.57 KB
- by Bates, Robert H.; Coatsworth, John H.; Williamson, Jeffery G.
- Africa and Latin America secured their independence from European colonial rule a century and half
apart: most of Latin America after 1820 and most of Africa after 1960. Despite the distance in time
and space, they share important similarities. In each case independence was followed by political instability,
violent conflict and economic stagnation lasting for about a half-century (lost decades). The parallels
suggest that Africa might be exiting from a period of post-imperial collapse and entering a period of
relative political stability and economic growth, as did Latin America a century and a half earlier.
- Publication Type: WCFIA Working Paper
- Published Date: October 2006
- Field of Interest: Comparative Politics
- Bates, Robert H., John H. Coatsworth, and Jeffrey G. Williamson. "Lost Decades: Lessons from Post-Independence Latin America for Today’s Africa." Working Paper 2008-0011, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University, October 2006.
- Also NBER Working Paper 12610:
http://www.nber.org/papers/w12610
