Search our video library for "liberia"
The incoming administration of Liberian President-elect George Weah will need to address numerous pressing challenges related to the country’s security and stability. This is all the more critical as the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) is drawing down and plans to depart the country in March 2018, after 15 years in country.
Police reform has been ongoing in Liberia since 2003. Yet the robust plans regularly receive only half the necessary funding. While security agencies, civil society actors, donors, and other international actors sometimes supplement shortfalls, their competing interests have also hindered decisive, forward-moving progress at times. An unexpected Ebola outbreak in 2013 only complicated efforts. The... Continue Reading
An Africa Center academic outreach visit to Liberia included in-depth presentations on the frequently distrustful relationship between the news media and security institutions, as well as the media’s role in security sector reform.
The African Union will need to overcome a lack of political will and address structural challenges if it is to be effective in responding to security crises on the continent, consistent with its founding mission.
Transforming the protests into genuine democratic change in Sudan will require maintaining an organized reform coalition and reaching an understanding with military leaders.
Program materials for the Africa Center's 2019 program, “National Security Strategy Development Workshop: Central and Southern Africa.” Click here for syllabus, readings, and presentation slides.
Togolese citizens are ready to join West Africa’s democratic trend but face resistance from their long-time leader and politicized security sector.
In an interview with the Africa Center, Stephen Twebaze says that when MPs govern as representatives rather than political actors, even parliaments dominated by a ruling party can practice effective oversight.
Program materials for the Africa Center's 2018 National Security Strategy Development Workshop. Click here for syllabus, readings, presentation slides, and case studies.
The growing share of Africa's urban residents living in slums is creating a further source of fragility. However, integrated urban development strategies that link local government, police, the private sector, and youth are strengthening social cohesion and enhancing stability.
A “gun class”—the fusion of security leaders with political power, class, and ethnicity—is at the heart of the predatory governance system that has taken root in South Sudan. Changing this trajectory will require redefining the roles of political and security actors.
The status quo in South Sudan is unsustainable. South Sudan must undertake fundamental reforms if it is to avoid a descent into a Hobbesian state of lawlessness and rule by the strong.