Settler colonialism does not produce ‘good institutions’: Kate Meagher, ‘Thandika Mkandawire and the Decolonization of Settler Colonial Thinking’, International Development, 21/10/25 | settler colonial studies blog

Settler colonialism does not produce ‘good institutions’: Kate Meagher, ‘Thandika Mkandawire and the Decolonization of Settler Colonial Thinking’, International Development, 21/10/25

18Nov25

Excerpt: Thandika Mkandawire, the late Chair of African Development at the LSE and celebrated Professor in ID, had a knack for taking trending development perspectives and turning them on their head to reveal how they are experienced by people of the Global South. Reading his work on settler colonialism and institutions is something of an ‘aha moment’, triggering a Gestalt shift that reveals what development looks like to those at the receiving end. Thandika’s insights challenge the reigning perspective of Nobel-prize winning scholars, Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson (affectionately known as AJR is ID circles), who are credited with rehabilitating settler colonialism by distinguishing it from the violent and extractive practices of colonialism in areas less hospitable to European settlement. In their seminal article on the subject, AJR argued that settler colonialism, in contrast to its nasty extractive variant, implanted ‘good institutions’ associated with secure property rights, the rule of law, and democratic governance, which have driven successful development over the centuries. Revisiting the experience of settler colonialism in Africa, Thandika’s work raises questions about who settler colonial institutions were good for, and whether the settler era is as shrouded in the past as often suggested. Re ecting on settler colonialism through the prism of Thandika’s life and work provides an ideal opportunity to highlight his iconic research on African Development to a new cohort of ID students, and, in the spirit of Black History month, shows how engagement with the histories of the colonized can contribute to deepening and decolonizing contemporary development debates.

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