Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemogly and James Robinson

Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemogly and James Robinson stipulates its own answers for questions asked by most who study or engage with development, war and poverty. The central question is – why are some nations strong and others weak? Why are some trapped in perpetual poverty and others thriving in excess? Why do some nations fail while others do not? The authors argue, very basically, that it is “institutions, more precisely the political institutions that determine economic institutions” (Boldrin, Levine and Modica) that determine whether a nation will succeed or fall apart. They present a variety of important examples and make statements meant to force their audience to really think about privilege, luck and what truly determines our fate. This essay will first present a summary of the book and its central ideas, and then it will discuss whether these are valid, important and how they fit into the broader debate.

The book opens with a chapter entitled “So Close and Yet So Different: the Economics of the Rio Grande”. This is an interesting choice in itself – people often discuss these questions relative to third world countries in Africa and the Middle East, but rarely do we consider the issue from the perspective of the US-Mexico border and the striking difference that exists between these two nations in towns and cities that exist only hours apart. The authors open with describing this striking contrast, between Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora, cities that share a name but not a flag. In the former, there is a relatively healthy population, with electricity, telephones and a sewage system, guaranteed education, and an average income of $30 thousand dollars a year. They are not the richest of American cities, by far,...

... middle of paper ...

... life, especially on a level of national politics, is very complicated. To reduce the issue to one of institutions is to forget many other aspects that may come into play, and as such, it may be reductionist and essentialist to simply place blame on this one area of life.

In conclusion, I think that Why Nations Fail is an important piece of literature in the field of international politics, economy and development and should be considered when discussing how we may adapt and change the way we view why things occur the way they do and the historical circumstances behind them.

Works Cited

Acemoglu, Daron and Robinson, James. “Why Nations Fail: The origins of power, prosperity and poverty”. Crown Publishers. New York. 2012.

Boldrin, Michele et al. “A Review of Acemoglu and Robinson’s Why Nations Fail”. http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/aandrreview.pdf