Greg Mills - Böcker

A Brookings Institution Press and World Peace Foundation publicationThe new South Africa, as well as the surrounding southern region, is finally free of apartheid and colonial rule. Civil wars have ended; democracy is everywhere. Economically, South Africa and the region are beginning to grow more rapidly than ever before. But serious impediments to sustainable growth and effective participatory government remain.President Nelson Mandela's African National Congress won a strong victory in South Africa's 1994 elections and has governed with skill and ambition ever since. Nevertheless, crime rates have soared, as have the number of illegal and conventional small arms, car hijackings, trade in drugs, illegal immigrants, and all manner of attacks on the political and social stability of the state.This book puts these serious societal problems in perspective and provides fresh answers and recommendations. The book includes chapters on crime rates and criminal syndicates, the proliferation of conventional arms, illegal populations movements, drug trafficking, the South African army, and a concluding chapter on African armies and regional peacekeeping.The contributors are Jacklyn Cock, University of the Witwatersrand; Robert Gelbard, Assistant Secretary of State for Drug Enforcement and Legal Affairs; Jeffrey Herbst, Princeton University; Mark Malan, Mark Shaw, and Hussein Solomon, Institute for Security Studies; Katherine Marshall, the World Bank; Steven Metz, U.S. Army War College; Greg Mills and Glenn Oosthuysen, South African Institute of International Affairs; C.J.D. Venter, South African Police Service; and Joan Wardrop, Curtin University, Australia.Copublished with the World Peace Foundation

Why do some states thrive, grow their economies and uplift their people, while others, facing similar challenges, slide into low growth, social dysfunction and failure? After decades of work on the ground in Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, bestselling author Greg Mills seeks to provide answers in Rich State, Poor State.On each continent he traverses, Mills interrogates the how and why. How did Botswana go from being one of the least-developed and poorest nations at independence to enjoying the highest rate of per capita growth of any country in the world? Why has South Africa failed to attain similar heights? How did the Baltic states achieve reforms that have positioned them among the best-performing economies in Europe? How did Vietnam overcome a traumatic past in favour of a rapid and positive development transformation? Why is Mexico the only large developing economy that competes with China in manufacturing?Drawing from interviews with current and former presidents, prime ministers and key government officials across the globe, as well as research from leading institutions to enrich his fieldwork, Mills contrasts the successes and the failures, and in so doing, seeks to determine a path for the next generation of leaders.Insightful and inspiring, Rich State, Poor State shows that with better choices, the right policies and the will to implement them, it is entirely possible to travel the road from poverty to prosperity.

How have some people broken the shackles of their circumstances to achieve extraordinary things? Can success be taught, or does it depend on talent alone? What role does luck play? Through more than 250 interviews with leaders in sport, business, war and politics, Greg Mills and Emanuele Pirro distil the ingredients of success and, conversely, the causes of failure. From rugby’s triumphant Springboks to winning Formula 1 drivers, presidents guiding negotiations, generals on the battlefield, and businesspeople building empires in the boardroom and on the street, successful people trust their instincts, focus on the things that will make a difference to their performance, and leave nothing to chance. With wide-ranging stories of achievement from around the globe, The Essence of Success is insightful, entertaining and empowering. As multiple Olympic gold-medallist Sir Chris Hoy told the authors, ‘The only person you have to beat is yourself, yesterday.’

FOREWORD BY SIR NICK CARTER, FORMER UK CHIEF OF DEFENCE STAFFThe world is becoming a more dangerous place. Since the fall of Kabul and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the US-led liberal international order is giving way to a more chaotic and contested world system. Western credibility and deterrence are diminishing in the face of wars in Europe and the Middle East, tensions across the Taiwan Strait, and rising populism and terrorism around the world. Can peace, mutual respect and democracy survive, or are we destined to a permanent chaos in which authoritarians and populists thrive?Using decades of experience as policy advisors in conflicts in Iraq and across Africa, and on recent fieldwork in Israel and Taiwan, the authors analyse the nature of modern war, considering state-on-state and intra-state conflicts. They investigate how technology can be a leveller for small powers against larger aggressors and the role of leadership, diplomacy and economic assistance.The Art of War and Peace explores how wars can be won on the battlefield and how that success can be translated into a stable and enduring peace.

FOREWORD BY SIR NICK CARTER, FORMER UK CHIEF OF DEFENCE STAFFThe world is becoming a more dangerous place. Since the fall of Kabul and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the US-led liberal international order is giving way to a more chaotic and contested world system. Western credibility and deterrence are diminishing in the face of wars in Europe and the Middle East, tensions across the Taiwan Strait, and rising populism and terrorism around the world. Can peace, mutual respect and democracy survive, or are we destined to a permanent chaos in which authoritarians and populists thrive?Using decades of experience as policy advisors in conflicts in Iraq and across Africa, and on recent fieldwork in Israel and Taiwan, the authors analyse the nature of modern war, considering state-on-state and intra-state conflicts. They investigate how technology can be a leveller for small powers against larger aggressors and the role of leadership, diplomacy and economic assistance.The Art of War and Peace explores how wars can be won on the battlefield and how that success can be translated into a stable and enduring peace.

'[An] excellent study' -- The Telegraph 'A deeply thought-provoking book full of wisdom, insight and common sense, by two of our foremost strategists' -- James Holland, bestselling author of The War in the West 'The Art of War and Peace by David Kilcullen and Greg Mills, a team comprising an American-Australian and a South African, is a metaphor for the international cooperation necessary by which the efforts of good people can succeed over evil.' - General (rtd) Sir Nick Carter, former Chief of the Defence Staff, UK FOREWORD BY SIR NICK CARTER, FORMER UK CHIEF OF DEFENCE STAFFThe world is becoming a more dangerous place. Since the fall of Kabul and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the US-led liberal international order is giving way to a more chaotic and contested world system. Western credibility and deterrence are diminishing in the face of wars in Europe and the Middle East, tensions across the Taiwan Strait, and rising populism and terrorism around the world. Can peace, mutual respect and democracy survive, or are we destined to a permanent chaos in which authoritarians and populists thrive?Using decades of experience as policy advisors in conflicts in Iraq and across Africa, and on recent fieldwork in Israel and Taiwan, the authors analyse the nature of modern war, considering state-on-state and intra-state conflicts. They investigate how technology can be a leveller for small powers against larger aggressors and the role of leadership, diplomacy and economic assistance.The Art of War and Peace explores how wars can be won on the battlefield and how that success can be translated into a stable and enduring peace.

Democracy Works asks how we can learn to nurture, deepen and consolidate democracy in Africa. By analysing transitions within and beyond the continent, the authors identify a 'democratic playbook' robust enough to withstand threats to free and fair elections. However, substantive democracy demands more than just regular polls. It is fundamentally about the inner workings of institutions, the rule of law, separation of powers, checks and balances, and leadership in government and civil society. It is also about values and the welfare and well-being of its citizens, and demands local leadership with a plan for the country beyond simply winning the popular vote. This volume addresses the political, economic and extreme demographic challenges that Africa faces. It is intended as a resource for members of civil society and as a guide for all who seek to enjoy the political and development benefits of democracy in the world's poorest continent. Finally, it is for donors and external actors who have to face critical decisions––especially after ill-fated electoral interventions such as Kenya 2017––about the future of observer missions and aid promoting democracy and good governance.

In 1960, the GDP per capita of Southeast Asian countries was nearly half of that of Africa. By 1986 the gap had closed and today the trend is reversed, with more than half of the world's poorest now living in sub­ Saharan Africa.Why has Asia developed while Africa lagged? The Asian Aspiration chronicles the stories of explosive growth and changing fortunes: the leaders, events and policy choices that lifted a billion people out of abject poverty within a single generation, the largest such shift in human history.The relevance of Asia's example comes as Africa is facing a populationboom, which can either lead to crisis or prosperity, and as Asia is again transforming, this time out of low-cost manufacturing into hi-tech, leaving a void that is Africa's for the taking. Far from the optimistic determinism of 'Africa Rising', this book calls for unprecedented pragmatism in the pursuit of African success.

'These things happened. They were glorious and they changed the world,' said Charlie Wilson, of America's role backing the anti-Soviet mujahideen. 'And then we fucked up the endgame.' With no support for Afghanistan after that war, the vacuum was filled by the Taliban and bin Laden. 'The Ledger' assesses the West's similarly failed approach to Afghanistan after 9/11--in military, diplomatic, political and developmental terms.Dr David Kilcullen and Dr Greg Mills are uniquely placed to reflect backwards and forwards on the Afghan conflict: they worked with the international mission both as advisers and within the Arg, and they have considerable experience of counterinsurgency and stabilisation operations elsewhere in the world. Here these two experts show that there is plenty of blame to go around when explaining the failure to bring peace to Afghanistan after 9/11. The signs of collapse were conveniently ignored, in favour of political narratives of progress and success. Yet for Afghans, the war and its geopolitical effects are not over because NATO is gone--Afghanistan remains globally connected through digital communications and networks. This vital book explains why and where failings in Afghanistan happened, warning against exceptionalist approaches to future peacebuilding missions around the globe.

State failure takes many forms. Somalia offers one extreme. A collapse of central authority as the outcome of a prolonged civil war, where authority descends into competing factions - warlords - around the spoils of local commerce, power and international aid. At the other end of the scale is Malawi under President Bingu. During his abbreviated second term in office, the country's economy collapsed as a result of poor policies and personalised politics. On the surface, save the petrol queues, it was stable; underneath, the polity was fractured and the economy broken. Between these two extremes of state failure are all manner of examples. This book uses field-work based case-studies of more than thirty countries, incorporating interviews with a dozen leaders, to disaggregate various state failures and identify instances of recovery - from Latin America, Asia and Africa, including Afghanistan, Congo, Sierra Leone, Kosovo, Somalia and Somaliland, Venezuela and Zimbabwe - while focusing on a key question: How do countries recover and what roles are there for insiders and outsiders?

No country has managed as rapid and positive a turnaround in governance and security conditions this century than Colombia. In 1999, rebels of the FARC and ELN were, literally, at the gates of Bogota, Colombian known more for rapacious corruption, weak government, drug smuggling and criminality, a country synonymous with the antics of Pablo Escobar. Fifteen years later the guerrillas and the government are at the peace table in Havana, the economy has been a top performer in Latin America, and drugs are no longer the pervasive scourge they once were. To date, however, there has been no comprehensive examination of the different elements employed by government to combat the guerrillas, to win local and international political and military support, extend government authority to the 75 percent of the countryside where it was seldom felt, and to turn the Colombian economy into a success resembling the high-growth examples of Southeast Asia. How the Colombians did all of this is the subject of this book by four international specialists with untrammelled policy and practical expertise in counter-insurgency campaigns in Colombia and elsewhere, bringing a unique comparative perspective. Based on field-work in Colombia's regions, the study provides a history to the conflict, compares it to other historical and contemporary case-studies, examines the war from the perspective of the government and the guerrilla, delves into the development of special Colombian capabilities notably in intelligence and the use of airpower and special forces, and explains the economic dimension in terms both of historical exclusion and ongoing attempts at growth and inclusion. Finally, it concludes with an assessment on the country's prospects: can the combination of improved security, a flourishing economy and the peace process offer an opportunity to finally translate Colombia from, in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's words, 'a great perhaps' into something more permanent?

The overwhelming challenge that South Africa faces, and has to date failed to address, is unemployment, which falls especially on African youths who were promised a better future after 1994. If the current unemployment challenge is not addressed, it will be impossible to sustainably lift many millions of people out of poverty. How South Africa Works reviews the country's major economic achievements over the past two decades. Through numerous interviews with politicians, business leaders and analysts, it examines the challenges and opportunities across key productive sectors -- including agriculture, manufacturing, services, and mining -- illustrative of the policy challenges that leaders face. It scrutinises the social grant and education systems to understand if South Africa has established mechanisms for people not only to escape destitution but be ready to be employed, and identifies steps that some of South Africa's most notable entrepreneurs have taken to build world-class enterprises. Recognising the essential challenge to cultivate more employers to employ people, How South Africa Works concludes by offering an agenda and active steps for greater competitiveness for government, business and labour.