research on state destruction and empire in Africa
My work in the area of European imperialism and state destruction in 19th century Africa challenges the revisionist literature on imperialism, and suggest that attention needs to be placed on the potentially destructive aspects of the international political economy. This work generated a renewed debate on the subject, eliciting a commentary by the Cambridge economic historian A.G. Hopkins, "Quasi-states, weak states, and the partition of Africa" in Review of International Studies v. 26, 2000. My reply is in the same issue.