This book has won the Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award 2014!
'This volume reports on the Tracking Development project initiated by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which involved academic institutes in the Netherlands; African and Asian students; and experts from Europe, the US, Asia, and Africa. Research design included an African PhD student in a paired Asian country, while an Asian counterpart reciprocated in Africa. The 14 comparative studies cover Nigeria/Indonesia, comparing technocracy and institutionalization, exchange rates, population policy and poverty reduction, and corruption; Malaysia/Kenya, focusing on agriculture and rural development, poverty reduction, industrial policy, and foreign direct investment; Vietnam/Tanzania, examining liberalization and poverty alleviation, the cashew market, and the textile industries; and Cambodia/Uganda, comparing agriculture, rural roads, and education. There was a clear policy orientation in all the studies, and ministry officials participated throughout. The case studies are preceded by four introductory and overview chapters, and followed by a concluding chapter helpfully titled "Policy and Governance ... Firm Findings and Remaining Questions." In a capsule, governance matters for good policy and outcomes, but the details of how and why are not always clear. As a one-volume, evidence-based response to why Asia has done so well and Africa so poorly, this book has no peer'. -J. H. Cobbe, Florida State University, in: Choice, May 2014