Tag: Greg Mills

How have people managed extraordinary things to escape the shackles of their circumstances? Can success be taught, or does it depend on personal talent alone? Is it nature or nurture? Does luck have a part to play? The Essence of Success finds common threads across different disciplines such as sport, business, war and politics.

How have the character and technology of war changed in recent times? Why does battlefield victory often fail to result in a sustainable peace? What is the best way to prevent, fight and resolve future conflict? The world is becoming a more dangerous place. Since the fall of Kabul and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the US-led liberal international order is giving way to a more chaotic, contested and multipolar world system.

South Africa is facing an extraordinary ‘polycrisis’. The dimensions of this crisis include an energy collapse; a failing rail network; weak education outcomes; an interrupted water supply; and the effects of decades of endemic corruption that have brought much of government to a halt.

Why do some states thrive, grow their economies and uplift their people while others, facing similar challenges, slide into low growth, social dysfunction and failure? After decades of work on the ground in states in Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, bestselling author Greg Mills seeks to provide answers in Rich State, Poor State.

Democracy Works explores how we can learn to nurture and deepen democracy in Africa to ensure economic growth and political stability. Making democracy work relies on much more than having free and fair elections. It depends on what happens between elections. It relies on the systems and institutions of government. Very importantly it hinges on what politicians want to do with the power they acquire, beyond the power itself.