Xenophobic violence against minorities and non-nationals has erupted periodically in different parts of Africa: against Somalis in Kenya, Nigerians in Ghana, Chadians in Libya , and Asians in South Africa.3 Scholars have offered various explanations fo …

The current global pattern of democratic retrenchment has multiple causes, including economic inequality, American imperial overreach, and increased migration, all of which have led to disillusionment with democratic systems, and inspired a populist de …

Africa is often overlooked in international policy conversations about climate change, but the continent has not been spared extreme weather events. On the eve of COP26, in Glasgow, United Kingdom, in October 2021, and as the African Union formulates a …

The ongoing war in the Tigray region of Ethiopia has resulted in the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in a decade. The escalating conflict has led to the death and displacement of thousands of civilians, raised ethnic tensions in Ethiopia, and caused …

This paper takes a comparative look at Sudan, Morocco, and Algeria, at the rise of Nubian and Amazigh rights groups, and their attempts to redefine national identity. We examine: how Nubian rights groups have sparked what is being called a Kushite revi …

Some African states should be lauded for their response to the pandemic; for moving quickly, for using best practices learned from past health crises, and for deploying scientifically-based solutions—all while Western leaders dithered. Ahmed Ogwell Oum …

This Policy Brief looks at successive attempts to transform the African university, in initiatives that have alternately been termed part of a larger Africanization or decolonization project. We chart attempts at intellectual decolonization launched by …

In January 2020, French president Emmanuel Macron hosted an emergency summit for the heads of state of Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Chad (the G5 Sahel group). The participants agreed to set up the Coalition for the Sahel to tackle the reg …

“The Great Game”, as it has been called, has been playing out in the region, layering new rivalries and ideological quarrels, onto preexisting post-colonial conflicts that have yet to be resolved. Berbera is again a point of interest. In 2018, the Unit …

Since 2013, armed conflict has raged in the Central African Republic, between the largely Muslim Seleka rebels and the predominantly Christian militias (known as the anti-Balaka). Rebel groups are controlling broad swathes of the country, exploiting mi …

Rentier state theory grew out of an attempt to understand political development in the oil-rich states of the Middle East. The framework has since been applied to understand the politics of resource-rich countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa, wit …

This policy brief outlines the debate surrounding the ICC’s focus on (sub-Saharan) Africa, describing how the Court has become the de facto court of transitional justice in Africa, and arguing that a realist theoretical framework can best explain its p …

Scholars of social movements and global protest have long neglected social movements in Africa, ostensibly because African societies are too rural, too tradition- or ethnicity-bound, or lacking advanced class formations. Those who have broached the top …

Africa, preeminent recipient of Chinese aid, has benefited greatly from Chinese low-rate loans, infrastructure projects and trade relations. Consequently, these massive investments cause analysts to question whether this Chinese expansionism constitute …