Africa was falling apart. But now it is coming together, and Africa and Africans are achieving greatness. The twenty-first century is significant for every African. In Things Come Together, Robert Rotberg extols the successes and explains 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 headed. To that end, Rotberg considers Africa’s myriad peoples as contributors in their separate nations to the continent’s ulti ... More

Africa was falling apart. But now it is coming together, and Africa and Africans are achieving greatness. The twenty-first century is significant for every African. In Things Come Together, Robert Rotberg extols the successes and explains 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 headed. To that end, Rotberg considers Africa’s myriad peoples as contributors in their separate nations to the continent’s ultimate destiny.The continent is experiencing explosive population growth and rapidly urbanizing. How 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 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 Uganda, to name but a few. While there are cross-continent commonalities related to governance, demographics, and economic performance, he shows the unique national variations of who and what is African.