Dr Ricardo Soares de Oliveira quoted on 'why the west loves a kleptocrat'

Ricardo Soares de Oliveira's new book, 'Magnificent and Beggar Land: Angola since the Civil War', has formed the basis of an article in the Financial Times entitled 'Why the west loves a kleptocrat' (6 March).

The article's author, Simon Kruper, writes, "Even by the standards of oil states, Angola is almost laughably unfair. […] Angola has the same Gini coefficient for inequality as apartheid South Africa (though a touch better than today’s Manhattan).

Yet this little-studied kleptocracy is an accepted part of the western system. Expat western workers keep Angola ticking. Angolan oligarchs inhabit the global luxury economy of British public schools, Swiss asset managers, Hermès stores etc. In fact, argues the Oxford political scientist Ricardo Soares de Oliveira in his marvellous new book, Magnificent and Beggar Land: Angola Since the Civil War, we live in 'an oligarch’s ideal world'. Western countries barely even pretend to disapprove of kleptocrats any more."

You can read the full article here: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e8fe02d4-c2b1-11e4-a59c-00144feab7de.html#axzz3TsQkMkz9