---
product_id: 50120579
title: "The Looting Machine: Warlords, Tycoons, Smugglers and the Systematic Theft of Africa’s Wealth Hardcover – 26 Feb. 2015"
brand: "tom burgis"
price: "B/.110"
currency: PAB
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 4
url: https://www.desertcart.com.pa/products/50120579-the-looting-machine-warlords-tycoons-smugglers-and-the-systematic-theft
store_origin: PA
region: Panama
---

# The Looting Machine: Warlords, Tycoons, Smugglers and the Systematic Theft of Africa’s Wealth Hardcover – 26 Feb. 2015

**Brand:** tom burgis
**Price:** B/.110
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** The Looting Machine: Warlords, Tycoons, Smugglers and the Systematic Theft of Africa’s Wealth Hardcover – 26 Feb. 2015 by tom burgis
- **How much does it cost?** B/.110 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.pa](https://www.desertcart.com.pa/products/50120579-the-looting-machine-warlords-tycoons-smugglers-and-the-systematic-theft)

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- tom burgis enthusiasts

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## Description

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Stunning and eye opening
*by D***E on 16 November 2017*

stunning and eye opening book that rips open the belly of corruption in resource rich SSA countries. The Chinese are late comers to the game but have managed to catch up and in a lot of cases bypass the incumbent "old" colonial powers. Would have liked to seen a little more on the corruption taking place in the Francophone SSA countries as this really does (did?) go to Presidential level and would have balanced out some of the Anglo detail. End of the day it is thievery and the countries involved will all have hell to pay come the day of reckoning and that day hopefully is on the horizon for the poor who pay the cost. A fine and readable book .

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Thoughtful, informative  and well researched diagnosis of corruption.
*by M***N on 29 June 2016*

With a personal interest and involvement in the oil industry in the Nigerian delta I found those parts of the book about Nigeria enlightening and informative. It is clearly a heavily researched book by a well informed journalist but the detail with which he investigates the corruption and the warring factions in the oil industry in Angola or Equatorial Guinea or the mineral industry in the Congo induced me to skip complete sections.His thesis is that the resource curse of oil, gas and mineral riches leads to corruption, ethnic violence and extreme poverty rates. The economies of any country with resource riches become distorted as their overvalued currencies emasculate other industries in the country. It is called the Dutch Disease, as experienced by Holland in 1977. As the value of local currency goes up, imports become cheaper undercutting homegrown enterprises. For example the strength of the Nigerian currency due to its oil wealth led to the undercutting and demise of the Nigerian textile industry by cheap imported Chinese garments.Tom Burgis argues that the resource industry is hardwired for corruption. Kleptocracy, or government by theft, thrives. The revenues from licensing oil and minerals are called economic rent and do not make for good management. Pots of money are at the disposal of those who control the state. The contract between rulers and ruled breaks down because the ruling class does not need to tax the people to fund the government so has no need for their consent.Tom Burgis is particularly enlightening about the approach and role of the Chinese. Good guanxi requires cultivation of personal ties that carry as much force as any written contract. Not to return a personal favour is a grave social transgression. When applied to politics and business guanxi can become indistinguishable from corruption or nepotism. Tom Burgis’s description of Sam Pa, a Chinese businessman, spy, arms trader who was instrumental in huge Chinese investment in China’s trade with Africa with cheap loans to fund infrastructure repaid in oil or minerals is an example of the grey area between investment and corruption.But Tom Burgis is fair about the dilemma of the African business men and politicians. There are obligations on successful people for their family and community and the lines between, nepotism, corruption and survival are close. Fall off the looting machine and the consequences can be dire – your house can burn and you and your family can be crushed.A thought provoking read. It does not make me stop supplying spill control equipment to the Nigerian delta even though I can be accused of complicity in the corruption. Isolation from the issues by European companies is not the solution.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This book puts names and faces to the African looting machine!
*by M***5 on 8 April 2021*

Fantastic book that gives you a remarkably detailed look into the looting machine (literally the mechanisms, events and individuals that enable the systematic, kleptocratic theft of wealth).If you live in a rich, stable country thinking that this does not affect you, you are mistaken. Kleptocrats around the world are the reason why your western quality of life is decreasing. They are the reason that asset values are escaping the realms of what your own income can provide you with. The stolen money is spent in stable democracies is for example one of several reasons why London real estate is unaffordable for the masses. I wish Tom Burgis touched on that but there was already too much to explain about the looting machine itself. Fantastic book and I will probably read it again soon.I recently went to Nigeria and this helped me to understand the current and ongoing state of affairs much better.

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*Product available on Desertcart Panama*
*Store origin: PA*
*Last updated: 2026-03-10*