This chapter analyses the institutional architecture and political reforms of the Iberian monarchies from the sixteenth century to the end of the eighteenth century, underlining two main ideas. First, the persistence of an institutional model based upon jurisdictional autonomies until the end of the seventeenth century. This political framework was based on cooperation and negotiation allowing the participation of the different institutional and social bodies in the political decision-making process. Iberian monarchs and their ministers were able to establish alliances with local oligarchies, important noble houses, guilds and, of course, the Church. This system was partly disrupted by a movement of political reforms that reinforced State interventionism in the economy during the eighteenth century. Second, the limited economic impact of such reforms prevented an economic growth similar to other Western European territories. They faced resistance of the kingdoms and territories, which aimed to preserve their customs and the resistance of the privileged groups who struggle to maintain their properties and fiscal privileges. Both factors detained the attempts of centralizing reforms and undermined the process of increasing state capacity.

The final chapter first aims to synthesise what has been learned from the previous chapters, emphasising the institutional challenges that have been identified there and identifying the main common factors behind those challenges, as well as the policies and reforms most able to weaken their effects. Most of the identified institutional challenges in theTanzanian economy result from a small number of basic institutional weaknesses, which logically form the core of our final diagnostic. In turn, these weaknesses are shown to be the symptoms of dysfunctional institutions that the diagnostic seeks to identify by delving into the proximate causes of identified weaknesses, and then by investigating the deep political economy factors likely to prevent corrective action. Even though political economy considerations rarely lead to consensual policy reform recommendations, they may point to general principles that may guide the reflection of policy makers, political actors, and civil society when thinking of potential reforms. The concluding pages of the chapter insist that transparency and accountabilty are two of these principles.

On August 9, 2014, Michael Brown, an unarmed eighteen-year-old African American man, was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, following a violent altercation on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. With many of the crucial facts surrounding Brown’s death under dispute – in particular, whether Wilson’s stop of Brown was justified, whether Wilson or Brown initiated the confrontation, whether Brown surrendered or resisted arrest – many residents in the majority African American community took to the streets to protest what they viewed as an emblematic instance of police brutality, as well as general indifference among community leaders toward the concerns of black and brown residents. In response, Ferguson police – and eventually the Missouri National Guard – mustered an intimidating show of force in an effort to contain the protests. The presence of large numbers of heavily armed police and guardsmen exacerbated an already tense situation, leading to charged and sometimes violent encounters between protestors and law enforcement officials. Wilson’s killing of Brown, the heated and sometimes violent protests, and the extraordinary heavy-handedness of the police response made the events in Ferguson national news, riveting public attention and forcing conversations about police brutality and the over-policing of communities of color.

The conclusions are drawn by identifying the range of possibilities contained in the current crisis. Positive and negative economic trends are documented. Populism is shown to be endemic in representative institutions. Deep social and cultural roots of the crisis are emphasized.