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While Russia’s engagements in Africa are often viewed as opportunistic, in the space of a few years Moscow has been able to gain a foothold in the southern Mediterranean, become a powerbroker in geographically strategic countries, and undermine democratic norms on the continent.
Idriss Déby’s death is an outcome of the ongoing instability perpetuated by his regime. The subsequent military coup d’état led by the late president’s son risks deepening political violence in this geographically strategic country.
Despite challenges of unemployment, corruption, entrenched political leadership, and political violence, many African youth have found constructive avenues to promote peace, effective governance, and reform.
President Patrice Talon’s manipulation of electoral rules and cooption of democratic processes have caused Benin to slide quickly from a multi-party democracy to a semi-authoritarian regime, portending heightened instability.
Africa Center Director of Research Joseph Siegle reviews a snapshot of Africa’s ongoing conflicts, which reveals a distinctive governance pattern. In addition to being more conflict prone, Africa’s autocracies are a focal point for instability on the continent.
The lack of legitimacy and accountability are at the root of many of Africa’s armed conflicts, reflecting an inability of these political systems to accommodate participation, contestation, and power-sharing.
There are at least 120 armed groups in the Eastern DRC who contribute to prolonged insecurity there. The violence they have perpetrated has displaced millions of civilians. The armed groups display a diversity of interests and objectives. Their proliferation is the result of 25 years of protracted conflict over land and resources, over political and customary power, all compounded by foreign interference. Military elites have become deeply invested in the conflict and the economies that it produces, making this a crisis of governance. The Congolese state is the point of entry for reform.
An academic webinar series exploring the lessons learned of the roles of the security sector and national security strategy development during times of transition from military to civilian rule. The webinar series provided an opportunity to share evidence-based insights and experiences and their implications for Sudan during its challenging transition to a civilian-led, democratic government.
Nigeria faces a plethora of security challenges ranging from violent extremism, to farmer-herder conflict, banditry, a revived secessionist movement, police repression, piracy, and attacks on oil infrastructure, among others. In this roundtable discussion, experts representing diplomatic, scholarly, and practitioner perspectives discuss the links between these security challenges and Nigeria’s patronage-based state institutions. Key themes were the need to rethink the structure of the Nigerian state, identify means of strengthening national identity, harness the aspirations of youth to advance governance reform, create more accountability within the security services, and avoid the militarization of every security challenge.
A series of four webinars and discussion sessions for African parliamentarians and parliamentary staff to examine security sector issues and the tools of oversight.
Africa saw a precipitous decline in the upholding of term limits in 2020. Of the 12 presidential elections held on the continent, five had incumbents facing term limits. Yet, in only one case, Niger’s President Mahmadou Issoufou, did the incumbent abide by this limit. Conversely, Faure Gnassingbé (Togo), Alpha Condé (Guinea), and Alassane Ouattara (Côte... Continue Reading
Sharp losses by the long-ruling NRM party reveal a shifting political landscape in Uganda, reflecting the will of a younger and more energized electorate looking for change.