The Unpopular View with Michael Brown

In Episode 7 of The Unpopular View, Michael Brown sits down with longtime colleague Koffi Kouakou in a first “North–South dialogue” on African realities, American assumptions, and the China factor. In this 3 part conversation, they challenge the “single story” narrative about Africa, unpack what standard metrics miss about everyday life and informal economies, and explore how China’s visible infrastructure and technology investments are reshaping the West’s role on the continent.

Guest: Koffi Kouakou — Managing Director, Stratnam Futures; Research Fellow, Center for Africa–China Studies; OECD expert group on strategic foresight; Oxford Saïd scenarios program alumnus.


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What is The Unpopular View with Michael Brown?

Are foreign aid, climate policy, and global governance actually working — or are they propping up a broken system? The Unpopular View cuts through partisan noise with evidence-based analysis on the politics and economics of international development, foreign aid reform, climate policy, natural resource governance, and global corruption.

Host Michael Brown is a social and environmental risk analyst and former NGO founder with three decades of field experience across more than 35 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific. He has worked on corruption investigations, community-led development, conservation, mining governance, and climate mitigation — on the ground, not from a think tank.

Each episode combines first-hand field stories with hard data to challenge policy myths from both left and right. Topics include USAID and foreign aid accountability, the Washington consensus, resource extraction in the Global South, Africa's demographic and economic future, climate finance, and why outsider-driven development keeps failing communities.

If you follow global affairs, international development, foreign policy, or geopolitics — and want analysis that goes beyond the headlines — this is the show for you. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen.