Books by Robert H. Bates

Addresses the question: Why should Africa be studied in the American university? Put to scholars in the social sciences and humanities, prominent Africanists who are also leaders in their various disciplines, their responses make a strong case for the research on Africa.

Coffee is traded in one of the few international markets ever subject to effective political regulation. This work explores the origins, the operations, and the collapse of the International Coffee Organization, an international "government of coffee" that was formed in the 1960s. It is aimed at those interested in "the new institutionalism".

In the later decades of the twentieth century, Africa plunged into political chaos. States failed, governments became predators, and citizens took up arms. In When Things Fell Apart, Robert H. Bates advances an exploration of state failure in Africa. In so doing, he not only plumbs the depths of the continent's late-century tragedy, but also the logic of political order and the foundations of the state. This book covers a wide range of territory by drawing on materials from Rwanda, Sudan, Liberia, and Congo. A must-read for scholars and policy makers concerned with political conflict and state failure.

Students of comparative politics have long faced a vexing dilemma: how can social scientists draw, applicable principles of political order from specific historical examples? This work offers a methodological response to this important question. It bridges the gap between the game-theoretic and empirically driven approaches in political economy.

This book addresses several of the classic questions in African Studies. In answering these questions, the book explores various forms of explanation and advances a form of political economy based upon rational-choice analysis.