Small Research Assignments (Weeks 1 & 10)

Week 1 Day 2: Mis/Perceptions of Africa

  • What are your impressions of Africa? Why/How do you think you have come to those impressions? Show specific evidence of your “Africa education”

OR

  • What is your impression of the way/s the world perceives Africa?
  • What type of evidence do YOU find compelling to explain why the world perceives Africa and Africans in certain ways.

Week 10 Day 1: Corruption

Work with a classmate (or 2 or 3) to

  1. investigate the following:
  • What corruption is (find definitions and note sources)–write down two compelling definitions of corruptions
  • The extent of corruption in Africa [data and sources?]–report some data. For context, report on both Africa and non-African countries.
  • The costs of corruption for Africa (why it is bad) [data and sources?]–report some data

HINT: The optional reading by Burgis (2015) might help.

2. Prepare a report for Tuesday’s class (7-mn MAX informal presentation)

Week 10 Day 2: Governance

The Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) project reports aggregate and individual governance indicators for over 200 countries and territories over the period 1996–2016, for six dimensions of governance:

  1. Voice and Accountability
  2. Political Stability and Absence of Violence
  3. Government Effectiveness
  4. Regulatory Quality
  5. Rule of Law
  6. Control of Corruption

For ways to measure these indicators, go here.

TASK 1:

  • Choose  2 countries from each of the 5 conventional regions of Africa and report their governance performance using the above 6 WGI indicators. Report in a table.
  • For context, do the same with 10 countries from other parts of the world (you can mix and match continents if you want–follow your curiosity!)
  • Write a paragraph about your observations.

TASK 2: BE SURE TO WORK WITH AT LEAST ONE CLASSMATE ON THIS ASSIGNMENT

  • Compare the WGI and the Ibrahim governance indicators (pp. 164-166 for terms and definitions) and assess which set of indicators you find more compelling/useful. Explain your choice. Use evidence whenever possible to make your point.
  • Now, select performance indicators for each of the SDGs for the 10 African countries you chose for Task 1. For data, go here. Report in a table alongside governance performance indicators (make a 2-column table).
  • Write a paragraph about your observations and hypotheses that come to mind.