Leander Schneider, PhD

Dr. Schneider’s research focuses on the politics of development with a geographical focus on sub-Saharan Africa. 

His book, Government of Development: Peasants and Politicians in Postcolonial Tanzania (Indiana University Press, 2014), and related articles ask what drives state officials to force development projects on resisting “beneficiary” populations. This work develops a thick analysis of the constitution of a particular kind of authoritarian rule around "development."

Dr. Schneider has also written about the experience of Chinese migrants in Tanzania and on economic development from a policy perspective. He has consulted in this area for Oxfam America, the UNDP, and UNWomen.

He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University.

Research interests

POLI 203               Introduction to Comparative Politics
POLI 366               African Politics
POLI 437               Special Issues in African Development
POLI 496/681        Collectivities in Politics
POLI 629/811        Critical Perspectives on Development

BOOK

Schneider, Leander. 2014. Government of Development: Peasantsand Politicians in Postcolonial Tanzania. Indiana University Press,Bloomington, IN.

Honorable Mention, 2015 OgotBookAward, African Studies Association

Reviewed in: Perspectives onPolitics, American Historical Review, Washington Post, Journal of AfricanHistory, Stichproben, Canadian Journal of Development Studies, Africa Spectrum,International Journal of African Historical Studies

SELECT ARTICLES

Schneider, Leander. 2023. “Some Contemporary Forms ofChinese Transnational Mobilities in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.” Stichproben:Vienna Journal of African Studies Vol. 23, 79-104.

Schneider, Leander. 2019. “Julius Nyerere: TanzanianPresident, Statesman, and Intellectual.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia ofAfrican History.

Schneider, Leander. 2006. “Colonial Legacies andPostcolonial Authoritarianism: Connects and Disconnects.” African StudiesReview Vol. 49(1), 93-118.

Schneider, Leander. 2006. “The Maasai’s New Clothes: ADevelopmentalist Modernity and Its Exclusions.” Africa Today Vol.53(1),100-131.

SELECT PUBLIC IMPACT AND POLICY-ORIENTED PUBLICATIONS

Schneider, Leander. 2024. “How Socialism in the VillagesWent Wrong.” Jacobin Magazine 54, Summer 2024. https://jacobin.com/issue/town-and-country

Cortella Marone, Heloisa, and Leander Schneider. 2022.“Household and Care Work, Crisis, and Gender-(In)Equality in the Economy ofSmall Island Development States: A Samoan Perspective.” United Nations DevelopmentProgramme, UNDP Global Policy Network Brief. https://www.undp.org/publications/dfs-household-and-care-work-crisis-and-gender-unequal-economies-samoan-perspective

Schneider, Leander. 2015. “Visions of Tanzanian Socialism.”Jacobin Magazine, December 2015. https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/12/julius-nyerere-tanzania-socialism-ccm-ukawa/

Schneider, Leander. 2011. “Bearing Risk Is Hard to Do: CropPrice Risk Transfer for Poor Farmers and Low-Income Countries.” Development inPractice Vol. 21 (4&5), 536-549.