Tropical Gangsters: One Man's Experience with Development and Decadence in Deepest Africa

by Robert Klitgaard

Selected as one of the six best nonfiction books of 1990 by the editors f the New York Times Book Review , this is a compelling and entertaining account of the author's two-and-a-half year adventure in Equatorial Guinea, and his efforts to get this small bankrupt African nation on the path of structural development.

Genres: Africa, Nonfiction, History, Economics, Equatorial Guinea, Politics, Memoir

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Bob Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book ever written on Equatorial Guinea

This is really an excellent book on all levels and I am very glad to have found it. As a former Peace Corps Volunteer I could empathize with the author's trials and tribulations in trying to pull off some development work in a badly mis-governed country as well as his obvious liking and best wishes for the people he met. From this book you get a very clear and down-to-earth picture of a) Equatorial Guinea, one of the forgotten corners of the world, b)the development game played by donors and recipients, experts, expats, local bureaucrats and dictator's toadies and c) the problems the world, collectively, faces because poorer countries need help but richer countries don't really know how to deliver it. I finished the book wondering, as ever, if the whole development game is hopeless in all countries with autocratic or kleptocratic rulers who care not a whit for the welfare of their own people.

"Gangsters" exist amongst the Western aid people too, they are not endemic merely in the Third World. Such gangsters take advantage of the high salaries offered by development agencies of various governments, but, accusing the countries being aided of corruption and sloth, retire to the plush bars of a few hotels in the capital city and in their powder blue safari suits, complain to each other about "the natives". The author was most certainly not one of them. TROPICAL GANGSTERS is a clear, well-written book, one of the best on the development process I have ever seen. I highly recommend it.

[Tamara]

I got this book for my 12th birthday. I still haven't figured out if my parents thought it was actually a fictional adventure story, or just that a book about economic development in Equatorial Guinea would be something I might enjoy. As it turned out, I did.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not really sure why I enjoyed this book so much; the author talked a lot about economic restructuring/ governmental organization/ etc (snore). But, every time it threatened to get bogged down, he redirected his focus to the people, culture, and natural beauty of the country. He came away from his 2+ years in Equatorial Guinea with a true appreciation of the people, and with an (I think) realistic view of the problems. Too often westerners just say "well, if that just did x . . .". But this author doesn't try to pretend that he has all the answers, or that the problems are simple. Very enlightening book - I now wonder how the country is handling its new found oil wealth - if all the same basic problems remain now that a bunch of money has entered the equation.

[Julie Mahler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as I'm currently working on a project in Equatorial Guinea. The book is very readable and provides great insight into how EG matured from independence to its current state. The book occurs pre discovery of oil and gas in EG, so doesn't reflect the new wealth from oil and gas. Steve Coll's book about ExxonMobil (Private Empire) does some of that.

[Claudio · Rating 5 out of 5]

"My sex life was to a normal sex life as Equatorial Guinea's economy was to a normal economy: wretchedly improvished, with lots of potencial supply and demand but no equilibrium, and desperate need of overseas aid."

Relato de um economista trabalhando com desenvolvimento econômico em um país africano.
Mistura o trabalho interessante na intercessão de políticas públicas e desenvilvimento com causos pessoais de surf, música, viagens e outras aventuras.

[Walt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I initially thought this book was about crime and criminals. But it is named after a song. It is the story of an ivy-league economist/ surfer who worked for the IMF in restructuring underdeveloped economies in third world countries.

It is a little difficult to believe that the magic elixir for a troubled economy is a combination of weaker currency, less government spending, less government regulation, and privatization. This obviously did not work in Equatorial Guinea, the setting for the book. However, it is interesting to read the author's observations about the problems afflicting these countries.

The Chinese ambassador told the author that the Equatoguineans treat their infrastructure like shirts. When the shirt has a hole, they ignore it, when the shirt has two holes, they ignore it, when the shirt has so many holes it is no longer usable, they discard it. They treat their ports, streets, airport, electricity, and everything else the same way.

The author spent a great deal of time simply trying to train government personnel. One thing that is clear from the book is that there is considerable turn-over among government officials. More than once the author had to start over with a new counterpart in government. He also pointed out that corruption, while rampant, was not the principal problem because he had difficulty paying legitimate sums of money to government workers. It comes through that the nation's problems arose from an unequal legal system and poorly trained officials. These seemed more obvious from the text than weaker currencies, less regulation, and more privatization.

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fairly dull. Lots of writing reports that nobody reads, meetings with people who don't care. Very little is accomplished, or even attempted. It does give a sense, perhaps, of the life of a traveling World Bank economic consultant. Peter Griffiths's "The Economist's Tale" tells a similar story, based in Sierra Leone instead of Equatorial Guinea, much more successfully. Judging just from memoirs, though, Peace Corps and MSF volunteers have more interesting and effective experiences.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended by a colleague who considered this a good complement to Easterly's White Man's Burden, Tropical Gangsters is the retelling of Klitgaard's years as a World Bank consultant to Equatorial Guinea in the 1980's. Tasked with devising an economic rehabilitation program to resolve the country's debt crisis and improve its banking system, Klitgaard offers a compelling view into the "paranoia and bureaucracy" with which the Equatoguinean government met foreign assistance. Since he was on the government payroll and hence not a full-blooded Bank staffer, he more readily won the trust of ministers and government workers which gives this memoir nuance. Had he not been taken in, the reader would be unaware of the infighting, back-stabbing, and power plays across ministries and the executive branch. While Klitgaard makes Tropical Gangsters a more playful read by describing his successful (and unsuccessful) explorations for the perfect wave (he brought his surfboard from the US) and divulging his temptations unabated by the absence of his fiancee, such personalization may result in you taking the book less seriously. If so, at least take away one thing: here was one Bank staffer who recognized the contradictions of development work. Something along the lines of, 'we're here to remedy the economic divide, but we'll still demand a bourgeois life for ourselves..."

[Windy2go · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Maybe I should give it four stars instead of three. It is a non-fictional account of one World Bank representative's few years working in Equatorial Guinea in the 1980s. Robert Klitgaard is a GREAT writer, foisting a variety of plots into what could be a pedantic account of aid work in a struggling African Country, and describing the characters and situations with such depth and interest that I thoroughly enjoyed almost every minute of the book.

Sample: The waiting room was slightly cooler than the Sahara. We sat and perspired. I loosened the necktie that was de rigueur for meetings with excellencies. I thought of a senior World Bank educator who the day before had been sent home because although he worse a necktie, he didn't have a coat to don at the time the Minister of Education was to receive him. I thought of a swimming pool.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why development hasn't happened, isn't happening, and will never happen in most of Africa. In one short, well-written and belly-laughingly hilarious account.

Also is a wonderful dismantling of most developmental aid programs and a whole bunch of U.N. sponsored nonsense. A great antidote to all sorts of ridiculous wishful thinking.

Investors, take note. Stick to Latin America or Southeast Asia for your "emerging market" needs.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Klitgaard manages to get under the skin of the development industry and lay its guts bare without being bombastic. This is a lovely book, honest, insightful and often very amusing. A must-read for anyone working in the head office of an international development organisation, and a should-read for the taxpayers who pay their salaries.

[Laila Kassis · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I've read on development. This book brought me closer than any other to truly understanding the realities of development work. The narrative is wonderful and engaging.

[Andrew Keen · Rating 3 out of 5]

TLDR: a true story about an emerging economy told from a humanizing perspective with real examples of developing economics and the impact on people's lives.

Robert Klitgaard describes his role facilitating a World Bank project in Equatorial Guinea in the late 1980s. He gives the reader an understanding of the country - both what makes it frustrating and underdeveloped by Western standards, but also what makes it delightful. We learn about Equatorial Guinea's history since Spanish colonization, the government, the ethnic tribes and their political roles, and the country's economy. All of it is told in an affable tone that doesn't bore and keeps you reading. We also learn about the resentments that developing world ministers have towards the World Bank and IMF.

Klitgaard does a good job of humanizing a book about economics - we get to know the personalities involved and their roles in how the aid project unfurls. Klitgaard also doesn't use graphs or dry theories so common to the dismal science. At its core, this is a book about development economics and only those interested in African/developing world economics and politics will make it through this book.

[Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had mixed feelings about this book throughout. Part memoir, part economic study, part historical summary of Equatorial Guinea the author had high ambitions which lead to a disjointed product. Every time I felt like I was finally starting to connect the dots on one topic the focus would shift to something else. The memoir perspective was my least favorite, between the surfing and electric guitar playing/song writing with the countries leading rockstar the tone felt very privileged. The economic study of IMF and World Bank development in Africa was better but in a very jargon filled, technical way that is not suited for casual readers. Although the author details his experiences negotiating for aid and working with ministers, there is a consistent lack of context of why things are happening or the history which lead to these decisions that was limiting.

[P S · Rating 5 out of 5]

A seminal exposé of corruption and how an African government runs rings round the providers of development aid. This got me into the anti-corruption world - for a major development agency which had barely begun to understand how deeply ingrained corruption lay at the root of our failures in aid over decades. That failure still continues and this remains an important text in understanding why.

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Needed a really good developmental editor. Very inconsistent. It seemed like a copy paste of a bunch of journal entries from that time. There were some interesting bits and long passages of somewhat repetitive economics conversations.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars - college read

[Jake Calhoun · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had to read for school

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Equatorial Guinea may be the worst governed nation and with the most badly managed economy in the world--although terms like "govern" don't really apply to this tiny, newly oil-rich enclave on the coast of west Africa. The head of state, Teodoro Obiang, seized power from his uncle, Francisco Macías, who became head of state when the colonial power, Spain, left in 1968. Macias was credibly accused of genocide, cannibalism and total insanity--he spoke to God regularly and acted based on those discussions. Obiang is preferable only in comparison.

While Klitgaard's book is dated--he finished while the discover and exploitation of oil fields wasn't even being considered--it remains a valuable, entertaining and occasionally frustrating account of the collision of the first world with--well with whatever world if after the third.

Klitgaard worked in the planning ministry of EQ for over two years, his salary paid by the World Bank, in order to help them get up to western standards in a few minimal (and ultimately completely inconsequential) areas. The institutions that took it upon themselves to intervene into the economic and social collapse there were the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the United Nations. In each case their efforts worsened the problems they had come to help solve.

At the end of "Tropical Gangsters" Klitgaard wasn't optimistic about the future. Everything that has happened since then has shown his caution was well placed.

[Al Swanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The authors experiences mirror much of what I've read about 'aid' and Africa. First, most of the folks at the top are quite simply crooks, so much of the aid money never reaches its intended recipients. Second, even when it does, it's often for programs designed by those from other countries and cultures and while they may feel it addresses the needs of the people - the people don't necessarily feel that way.

One of the points he makes is something I've heard quite often. If they can't be absolutely rich, driving a Benz and watching big screen tv's in their leather sofa equipped living rooms, they'd rather not expend the energy. I'm sure some of this is culture (the middle class is not well-developed in much of Africa) and some experience (after all, when you change leaders like underwear and you never know what the next guy is going to take from you, why bother?). Some might also fall into knowing what the aid groups are going to come through with in real life. Many, many promises - very little delivery (although, again, this can often be attributed to the thieves at the top).

Enjoyable and a fast read.

[Hansell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This guy does a pretty good job of summing up my the positive and negative aspects of politics and culture in Equatorial Guinea. Its strange though, this book was about 1985-1986 and I would write many of the same things today. Perhaps I would be MORE critical since the government hasn't really progressed in 20 years, if anything it may be more corrupt as a result of oil money. However, what is 20 years in the historical life of a country or culture? We are still working on our democracy and we have 200 years of independence....

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable and interesting look at the experience of a World Bank consultant during the two years he spent in Equatorial Guinea. It's engagingly written and I appreciated the wealth of personal anecdotes. The details about negotiations over IMF and World Bank loans were a bit technical for me, but would be very interesting to a development economist. On the whole, this was one of the better things I've read about the experience of a Westerner working in development in sub-Saharan Africa.

[Geoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining account of life as a World Bank advisor for several years in a really screwed-up African country during the mid-80s. I now understand why so many PS professors assign it in their courses on international development and aid, etc. Although the country is the former Spanish colony of Equatorial Guinea, I'm sure much of what the book portrays can be found in plenty of other places too. Sometimes the author's narrative borders on the self-indulgent, but the personal touch also makes it a more engaging read.

[Quentin Powers · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75, not a true 4. This was an interesting read examining the excitement and perils of working in a nascent nation and a developing country. At times the author’s unbelievably inflated self-opinion could be quite irksome (he is the ONLY foreigner in Malabo there to help, if you follow his narrative) but he does share some fascinating tales from his time in Equatorial Guinea and his interactions with both the local and expat communities. Bogs down a bit at parts which are super-economic, unless you’re into that sort of thing.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting inside look at the process of foreign aid to Africa. The author was a consultant on economic development to the govt. of Equatorial Guinea and was involved in that country's negotiations with the World Bank and the IMF. He is a sympathetic narrator and a careful observer of the natural environment, which he clearly enjoys. It gets a little difficult for those with no background in the subject (like me) but was a good introduction.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

My friend Jerry L. recommended this to me. I am not sure when exactly I read it because I just went to recommend it to someone and couldn't find it on my Goodreads. I remmber the book as an interesting insight into Equatorial Guinea. The cliquishness of the ruling family, the intense heat, the malaria.

The author writes a god clean narrative about his own work for the World Bank there. He probably lauds his own role, but nevertheless a good development read.

[ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

An insightful first-hand account of the problems and frustration you can experience while trying to "save the world." Great for anyone who wants to work in development, in my opinion, important for others to read, to understand how difficult it is, and how much different life is in developing countries.

[Valerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

World bank employee, former teacher and surfer goes to Equitorial Guinea...and details his aborted attempts to surf, help the local economy and teach the adults. Some of the best moments involved his working with the girls at at orphanage school run by nuns, and his descriptions of some of the people he met while working there.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note the date that I read this book. And I remember it very well. Should find it again.

Prof. Irene Powell of my dear alma mater, Grinnell College, assigned this book as our first reading in our International Development Economics seminar. Entertaining, true, sad, and cynical.

[Nadir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and entertaining look into the world both of this small African nation (now rich with oil) and international aid. A bit depressing to see how little the aid actually accomplishes in the face of typical tyrant / crook / nepotistic behavior (among *all* players - not just the ruler).