Robert I. Rotberg is the Founding Director of the Harvard Kennedy School's Program on Intrastate Conflict.

Written from a rare first-row vantage and offering a blend of scholarly analysis and personal observation, Overcoming the Oppressors is a masterful and unflinching analysis of the difficult political journey of southern African countries up from colonial domination, through independence, to a mixed postcolonial aftermath. The question of how the newly independent societies handled their hard-won freedoms has been posed before, but rarely with the kind of refreshing candor that Robert Rotberg brings to bear. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the fortunes of contemporary southern Africa, and indeed the fate of the entire African region.

• Preface I "Partnership" and Multiracialism in the New Africa II Consummating Zambian Nationhood III King Cobra and Other Menaces: Zambia Banishes Autocracy IV The Hijacking of Malawi: Banda's One-Man Rule V Promises, Promises: Modern Malawi Seeks Prosperity and Plenty Through Pot VI Mandela's Triumph: The Liberating of South Africa VII Surviving State Capture: the Path Forward VIII Botswana: Africa's Democratic Exception IX The Promise of Democracy Lost: Zimbabwe X Namibia: Throwing Off the Long Yoke XI Leaders of Integrity Conquer Africa's Consummate Challenges AcknowledgementsNotesFor Further Reading Maps Prepared by Dylan A. Gattey Southern AfricaZambia and MalawiSouth AfricaZimbabweBotswana and Namibia Portraits By Joanna G. Cloutier Kenneth KaundaKamuzu BandaNelson MandelaDesmond TutuThabo MbekiSeretse KhamaRobert MugabeHelen SuzmanNthato MotlanaJacob ZumaNthato MotlanaJacob Zuma

Robert I. Rotberg is the Founding Director of the Harvard Kennedy School's Program on Intrastate Conflict.

Written from a rare first-row vantage and offering a blend of scholarly analysis and personal observation, Overcoming the Oppressors is a masterful and unflinching analysis of the difficult political journey of southern African countries up from colonial domination, through independence, to a mixed postcolonial aftermath. The question of how the newly independent societies handled their hard-won freedoms has been posed before, but rarely with the kind of refreshing candor that Robert Rotberg brings to bear. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the fortunes of contemporary southern Africa, and indeed the fate of the entire African region.

• Preface I "Partnership" and Multiracialism in the New Africa II Consummating Zambian Nationhood III King Cobra and Other Menaces: Zambia Banishes Autocracy IV The Hijacking of Malawi: Banda's One-Man Rule V Promises, Promises: Modern Malawi Seeks Prosperity and Plenty Through Pot VI Mandela's Triumph: The Liberating of South Africa VII Surviving State Capture: the Path Forward VIII Botswana: Africa's Democratic Exception IX The Promise of Democracy Lost: Zimbabwe X Namibia: Throwing Off the Long Yoke XI Leaders of Integrity Conquer Africa's Consummate Challenges AcknowledgementsNotesFor Further Reading Maps Prepared by Dylan A. Gattey Southern AfricaZambia and MalawiSouth AfricaZimbabweBotswana and Namibia Portraits By Joanna G. Cloutier Kenneth KaundaKamuzu BandaNelson MandelaDesmond TutuThabo MbekiSeretse KhamaRobert MugabeHelen SuzmanNthato MotlanaJacob ZumaNthato MotlanaJacob Zuma

Robert I. Rotberg is the Founding Director of the Harvard Kennedy School's Program on Intrastate Conflict.

Written from a rare first-row vantage and offering a blend of scholarly analysis and personal observation, Overcoming the Oppressors is a masterful and unflinching analysis of the difficult political journey of southern African countries up from colonial domination, through independence, to a mixed postcolonial aftermath. The question of how the newly independent societies handled their hard-won freedoms has been posed before, but rarely with the kind of refreshing candor that Robert Rotberg brings to bear. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the fortunes of contemporary southern Africa, and indeed the fate of the entire African region.

• Preface I "Partnership" and Multiracialism in the New Africa II Consummating Zambian Nationhood III King Cobra and Other Menaces: Zambia Banishes Autocracy IV The Hijacking of Malawi: Banda's One-Man Rule V Promises, Promises: Modern Malawi Seeks Prosperity and Plenty Through Pot VI Mandela's Triumph: The Liberating of South Africa VII Surviving State Capture: the Path Forward VIII Botswana: Africa's Democratic Exception IX The Promise of Democracy Lost: Zimbabwe X Namibia: Throwing Off the Long Yoke XI Leaders of Integrity Conquer Africa's Consummate Challenges AcknowledgementsNotesFor Further Reading Maps Prepared by Dylan A. Gattey Southern AfricaZambia and MalawiSouth AfricaZimbabweBotswana and Namibia Portraits By Joanna G. Cloutier Kenneth KaundaKamuzu BandaNelson MandelaDesmond TutuThabo MbekiSeretse KhamaRobert MugabeHelen SuzmanNthato MotlanaJacob ZumaNthato MotlanaJacob Zuma