In part 4 of our lecture series, we look at Mobutu, Banda and the degeneration into ‘Big Men’.

Welcome to Part 4 of our ten-part ten-minute lecture series on African Political Thought, brought to you by Stephen Chan, Professor of World Politics at the School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS). Each week, a short reading list will be published alongside the lecture. Viewers are also encouraged to pose questions they have for Chan in the comments section below.

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In this episode, we look at:

The degeneration into “˜Big Men’: case studies of Mobutu and Banda; the critique of Mbembe.

For an audio-only version:

Reading list for Part 4

Achille Mbembe, On the Postcolony, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001.

Michela Wrong, In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu’s Zaire, New York: Haper Collins, 2001.

Robert I. Rotberg, The Rise of Nationalism in Central Africa, Camb. Mass: Harvard University Press, 1965.

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