Despite recent economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, most people there are still almost as poor as they were half a century ago. This book asks the vital question: why have Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam been able to reduce levels of absolute poverty in recent years more successfully than many African countries, such as Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania? In Asia-Africa Development Divergence, David Henley corrects widespread misconceptions about rapid poverty reduction in Asia and Africa and, in their place, presents a simple, radical explanation for the development divergence between Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa: the starkly unequal quality of developmental intent in these regions’ political leaders.