POLS 3000 Lecture Notes - Mobutu Sese Seko, Alexis De Tocqueville

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POLS 3000
• Professor: Ian Spears

Document Summary

Pols 3000 october 17 2013 politics of africa. Mobutu said to have had billions of dollars when he was in power but after he died only a few million were found. Goldsmith indicates that because being a leader in africa is dangerous it invokes corruption because it leads to hording money. If you are a leader the risk involved is 16 times greater than the most dangerous job in the united states. If you think your life is dangerous you are more likely to steal money while you still can. And then everyone perceives that the leader is corrupt and thus want to over throw him or her. Only advances the date of the next rebellion. Predictable election: soft landing won"t die when losing an election. The alleged four billion dollars could not be found. Mobutu"s wealth was instrumental in keeping the country (large, diverse, colonial made country) together zaire, now congo. Cannot afford to stash huge amounts of money.