Mancur Olson’s famous distinction between roving and stationary bandits helps explain why some systems of domination collapse while others endure. Roving bandits loot violently and move on. Stationary bandits settle in, extract methodically, and maintain just enough order to keep exploitation profitable.
Africa today is trapped between both. But the most uncomfortable truth is this: many of the most damaging stationary bandits are African elites themselves, operating in open collusion with foreign governments, corporations and financial interests. This is not simply a story of external predation or helpless victims. It is a story of shared plunder.
