Talk:States and Power in Africa

General comments

Untitled

Hi Saw2188. This book summary is a great addition to Wikipedia and a nice complement to the Environmental Determinism page you have been working on. Some suggestions:

• I made some edits for clarity
• I gather your main time was spent on the Environmental Determinism page, and at present the main thesis and contribution of the book does not really come through. As a supplement to Environmental Determinism it is fine, however.
• Small points
  • I think even a single line for each of the blank sections would be useful.
  • You could probably link to the Why Nations Fail page

Chrisblattman (talk) 19:25, 10 May 2016 (UTC)

Ideas for future development

I created this page as part of my work for a political science course in collaboration with the Wiki Education Foundation. I worked primarily on the environmental determinism page and added information relevant to that project here. Here are my ideas for future page development:

1. Expand the synopsis sections.
2. Add 1-2 sentences to the pages that Crcarey mentions above to drive traffic to this page and raise the work's profile online.
3. Add additional criticism from Why Nations Fail.

Points to further explain/revise

1. Be more clear about what a survival mandate is. I believe you are referencing the need of states to fight for their survival, but I am not sure.
2. Next, you say, "Herbst argues that geographic features influenced how precolonial African states conceived of meaningful power.” I am not entirely sure what you mean by this. Geography influenced the type of colonialism and the institutions colonizers implemented. Or are you saying that pre-colonial states established power based on geographic features?

--Crcarey (talk) 10:11, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

--Sarah Whittenburg (talk) 20:41, 7 May 2016 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Saw2188. Peer reviewers: Crcarey.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 14:36, 18 January 2022 (UTC)