Ngonidzashe Munemo challenges the conventional wisdom that African governments lack the technical capacity and political will to respond to drought and the threat of famine.

Through a comparative analysis of three politically disparate countries—Botswana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe—Munemo demonstrates that differences in the ways that governments face similar drought-induced food crisis are the result not of incompetence, but of rational political considerations. His original analysis shows why, in democracies and authoritarian regimes alike, the less effective option is so often the policy choice.

Ngonidzashe Munemo is associate professor of political science at Williams College.