Richard A. Joseph’s article “Facing Africa’s Predicament: Academe Needs to Play a Stronger Role” (Chronicle of Higher Education, March 7, 2003) poses a thought-provoking question. He asks, “How can a revolution in African governance be effected that would build complexes of institutions that operate efficiently and synergistically?” The revolution is needed, he says, because “entrenched political corruption throughout Africa has become just one element of a broader phenomenon that I call ‘catastrophic governance.’” He defines the catastrophe as “endemic practices that steadily undermine a country’s capacity to increase the supply of public goods to serve the basic needs of its population, including the security of life itself.” The practices he has in mind include repressive regimes, absence of democratic institutions, pervasive corruption, theft, mismanagement, and inefficient utilization of public resources.