Ethics and Power in Sudanic Africa

The second part of my review of Patrick Chabal, Africa: The Politics of Suffering and Smiling, is posted at African Arguments. In this, I try to trace some of the key features of rule by the Sudanic kingdoms, arguing that they present a special case of patronage/clientelism, which both vindicates and elaborates Chabal’s thesis, and that this is of interest not only to historians, but to contemporary policy as well.