Why Nations Fail Character Analysis

Porfirio Díaz

Porfirio Díaz was Mexico’s authoritarian president for most of the period from 1876 to 1911. While he brought political stability to the nation after a tumultuous half-century, he also undermined property rights by seizing land… read analysis of Porfirio Díaz

Bill Gates

Bill Gates is the billionaire founder of Microsoft. To show that inclusive institutions promote innovation and extractive ones merely redirect wealth to the elite, Acemoglu and Robinson contrast Gates’s wealth (the result of innovation) with… read analysis of Bill Gates

Sir Arthur Lewis

Sir Arthur Lewis was an influential economist from Saint Lucia. He proposed the dual economy paradigm in his landmark 1955 work The Theory of Economic Growth. Acemoglu and Robinson reference Lewis’s idea about less-developed… read analysis of Sir Arthur Lewis

Joseph Mobutu

Joseph Mobutu was the Congo’s authoritarian president from 1965 to 1997. After the Congo’s independence from Belgian rule, Mobutu continued Belgium’s extractive practices and amassed a private fortune of several billion dollars while the majority… read analysis of Joseph Mobutu

Robert Mugabe

Robert Mugabe was the authoritarian leader of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 2017. His regime was extremely corrupt: he rigged elections, seized property, and even rigged the national lottery to ensure he would win. Acemoglu and… read analysis of Robert Mugabe

Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte was France’s leader and foremost military general from 1799 to 1815. In the aftermath of the French Revolution, he led a series of key campaigns against foreign invaders. After taking power, he… read analysis of Napoleon Bonaparte

Shyaam

Shyaam was the king of the Kuba Kingdom in the Congo during the 17th century. While he built highly extractive institutions, Acemoglu and Robinson credit these institutions with creating state centralization and generating modest… read analysis of Shyaam

Carlos Slim

Carlos Slim is a Mexican billionaire. When Acemoglu and Robinson published Why Nations Fail in 2012, Slim was the wealthiest man in the world. However, the authors note that Slim built his wealth by manipulating… read analysis of Carlos Slim

Siaka Stevens

Siaka Stevens was the leader of Sierra Leone from 1967 until 1985. He ran the nation as a one-party dictatorship and kept many colonial British extractive institutions in place in order to enrich himself and… read analysis of Siaka Stevens

The Whig Party

The Whigs were a liberal British political party that largely drove the Glorious Revolution and dominated Parliament from 1715 to 1760. Acemoglu and Robinson note that the Whigs’ political incentives and interests changed after they… read analysis of The Whig Party

Kwame Nkrumah

Kwame Nkrumah was the first leader of independent Ghana. While many social scientists view his unsuccessful economic policies as ignorant and misguided, Acemoglu and Robinson point out that they were actually necessary in order for… read analysis of Kwame Nkrumah

William III

William III, better known as William of Orange, was one of the leaders of the Glorious Revolution and then the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1689 to 1702. He ruled alongside his wife… read analysis of William III

Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong was the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and the leader of the People’s Republic of China from 1949 to 1976. He built highly extractive economic institutions that spurred extremely fast economic growth… read analysis of Mao Zedong

Deng Xiaoping

Deng Xiaoping was the leader of the People’s Republic of China after Mao Zedong’s death He led the Republic from 1978 to 1989 and imposed broad economic reforms that allowed greater private investment and… read analysis of Deng Xiaoping

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the President of the United States from 1933 to 1945. When the Supreme Court rejected many of his New Deal economic policies, Roosevelt tried to expand the Court and pack it… read analysis of Franklin D. Roosevelt

Minor Characters

Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson

Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson are the authors of Why Nations Fail. They are economists who study the relationship between institutions, poverty, and economic growth around the world.

Jared Diamond

Jared Diamond is a biophysicist, ornithologist, and popular science writer best known for the book Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (1997), in which he argues that geographical factors have caused international inequality and European global domination.

Tiberius Gracchus

Tiberius Gracchus was a Roman official who represented the plebeians—or common citizens—in 133 BC. After he advocated for land reform, wealthy Roman aristocrats assassinated him. Acemoglu and Robinson use Gracchus’s assassination as an example of how elites go to extreme lengths to protect extractive institutions.

Carlos Menem

Carlos Menem was Argentina’s president from 1989 to 1999. Acemoglu and Robinson argue that Menem abused his powers and reinforced the long tradition of extractive institutions that contributed to Argentina’s century-long economic decline.

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin was the Soviet Union’s authoritarian leader from 1927 to 1953. Acemoglu and Robinson use his regime’s economic policies as a classic example of how extractive institutions can generate limited economic growth—but not innovation or sustained prosperity.

John Smith

John Smith was an English mercenary and statesman who led the Jamestown colony in Virginia from 1607 to 1609. He helped the settlers survive by forcing them to work and trading with Native Americans.

Charles I

Charles I was the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1625 to 1649. His attempts to grab absolute power alienated Parliament, leading to the English Civil War and, eventually, the Glorious Revolution.

Henry and Susannah Cable

Henry and Susannah Cable were married English convicts who were exiled to Australia in 1787. Through Australia’s inclusive economic institutions, they managed to sue their ship’s captain for a stolen parcel and eventually build a successful business.

Why Nations Fail Characters