African Politics

Kony 2012 - Untold Facts on the Ground

by Mayambala Mwana W'Afrika

Authoritarian crises and democratic transitions in Sub-Saharan Africa

by Julien Morency-Laflamme

This research proposes an analysis of transitions from authoritarian rule to democracy (TD). TD has been the subject... more This research proposes an analysis of transitions from authoritarian rule to democracy (TD). TD has been the subject of many researches, in particular since the end of the 1960s. This research attempted to identify the roots of those regime changes. Most researchers agree that TD is initiated by a conflict or crisis which affects the very legitimacy of the regime. These conflicts have been defined differently according to different authors: new versus old elites, civil society versus the authoritarian regime (RA), or between reformers and hardliners within the RA.
In this research, we criticize this consensus among Africanists. By applying the theoretical framework developed by Schmitter and O’Donnell in “Transition from Authoritarian rule” to the Benin, South African and Togo cases, this research will demonstrate the important how pro-reform forces within authoritarian regimes are a key feature of successful transition to democratic in Africa

Yoruba politics 1999-2003

by Omobolaji Olarinmoye

African Journal of Political Science and International Relations, Vol. 1 (2), pp. 020-027, November

This paper examines the politics of ethnic mobilization. Using as case study the political mobilization activities of... more This paper examines the politics of ethnic mobilization. Using as case study the political mobilization activities of one of the major ethnic groups in Nigeria, the Yoruba of the Southwest, it charts the sequence of relations between the ethnic group and the Nigerian State between 1999-2003. It argues that ethnic mobilization is not an anomic response to the disequilibria generated by modernization and definitely not, an expression of deep-rooted animosities or difference but a quest for group security and development within a chaotic and often in-egalitarian state structure. The weakness of civil society structures and absence of viable democratic structures for societal “voice” needs has encouraged the rise of ethnic politics, an amalgam of traditional and modernist principles, values and structures, as a means for articulating the demands of society and taking the lead in actualizing such in the face of an unresponsive state.

Charlatans Chicanery

by Mohamed Eno

Thr poem is an excerpt from my forthcoming volume Guilt of Otherness

The volume is under review with a subject area expert and a literary critic. The volume is under review with a subject area expert and a literary critic.

How plausible is a United States of Africa

by Felix Faulhaber

Special Issue: Civil society and intervention in Africa (Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding)

by Carl Death

Published in Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 2012, 6(1)

Clive Gabay and Carl Death, 'Building states and civil societies in Africa: Liberal interventions and global... more Clive Gabay and Carl Death, 'Building states and civil societies in Africa: Liberal interventions and global governmentality'

David Williams and Tom Young, ‘Civil Society and the Liberal Project in Ghana and Sierra Leone’

Branwen Gruffydd Jones, ‘Civilising African cities: International housing and urban policy from colonial to neoliberal times’

Jan Bachmann, ‘Governmentality and Counterterrorism: Appropriating international security projects in Kenya’

Jana Honke, ‘Multinationals and security governance in the community: Participation, discipline and indirect rule'

Marta Iniguez de Heredia, ‘Escaping statebuilding: Resistance and civil society in the Democratic Republic of the Congo'

Morten Bøås, ‘Autochthony and citizenship: "Civil society" as vernacular architecture?'

Governing the Karimojong: Tradition, Modernity and Power in Contemporary Karamoja

by Karol Czuba

The complex gerontocratic governance system of the Karimojong, the largest ethnic group in Karamoja, was challenged in... more The complex gerontocratic governance system of the Karimojong, the largest ethnic group in Karamoja, was challenged in the second half of the twentieth century by the combined forces of the modernising Ugandan nation-state and undisciplined young men. The paper demonstrates that, although Karimojong power structures were substantially weakened during the period of great disequilibrium between the late 1970s and 2000s, recent years have seen their gradual reconstruction. Some traditional institutions have disappeared or declined, but the position of elders has been largely restored. Ekokwa, or an informal assembly, has partially integrated the state-imposed Local Council 1 structure and emerged as the new central political forum of the Karimojong. Karimojong culture remains in a state of flux and significant changes can be expected in the near future.

Fluid attachment: reframing peacebuilding through Ahmadou Kourouma's Allah n'est pas obligé

by Christina Lux

Taming the Dragon: Outlining an African Response to Growing Chinese Engagement

by Steve Hess

Co-authored with Richard Aidoo and Abdoulaye Saine
Published in Africa Insight 40:4 (2011): 53-67.

Steering scholarship away from a dichotomously aligned debate between apologists and critics of Chinese engagement in... more Steering scholarship away from a dichotomously aligned debate between apologists and critics of Chinese engagement in Africa, this article redirects attention to the policy-oriented question of ‘what practical steps can Africans take to seize the opportunities Chinese emergence presents?’ The authors recommend that regional organisations coordinate intraregional trade, economic and industrial policies to forge a path towards sustainable region-wide development and implement a code of conduct based on the 1977 Sullivan Principles; aimed at removing the structural impediments average Africans are faced with.

Beyond the Rhetoric: Noninterference in China's African Policy

by Steve Hess

Co-authored with Richard Aidoo. African and Asian Studies 9 (2010): 356-383.

The following paper examines the historical origins and development of China's advocacy of the principle of... more The following paper examines the historical origins and development of China's advocacy of the principle of noninterference in its African foreign policy and suggests that in spite of its consistent rhetorical support for noninterference over the last fifty years, the relevance of the principle in shaping Beijing's foreign policy decisions has varied as its pragmatic interests have shifted. China's post-Maoist leadership, in the drive to win the African resources and markets needed to bolster its growing, export-driven economy, has utilized the practice of noninterference to win a foothold on the continent. As its level of investment in Africa and dependency on African energy resources and markets have expanded, however, Beijing has found limiting its actions vis-à-vis a policy of noninterference less tenable, and as recurrences of regional instability and anti-Chinese populism have threatened its interests, citizens, and assets on the continent, will likely take a more forceful role in its relations with partner states.

Matrimony Unpropitious

by Mohamed Eno

Another excerpt from the book Corpses on the Menu

The African masses should beware of a total subscription to the 'Shared Values' project. Previous as well as current... more The African masses should beware of a total subscription to the 'Shared Values' project. Previous as well as current hardships created by the West should give us enough reading of where we are heading and who to trust along the journey.

The Malawi 1964 cabinet crisis and its legacy of 'perpetual regression of trust'amongst contemporary Malawian politicians

by Happy Kayuni

European governments and African demands for reparations

by Peter Brett

2012, « The Historicity of the Neoliberal State », in Social Anthropology, volume 20, n° 1, pp. 80-94

by Mathieu Hilgers

Debate with Loic Wacquant “Three Steps to a Historical Anthropology of Actually Existing Neoliberalism." Social Anthropology, 20, 1, with responses in the next issue: Jamie Peck, Nick Theodore, and Neil Brenner, Stephen Collier, Daniel Goldstein, Johanna Bockman, Don Kalb...

Economies of War: A New Framework for the Congolese Conflict

by John Porten

War economy literature suggests that valuable, portable resources have a tendency to drive conflict in territories of... more War economy literature suggests that valuable, portable resources have a tendency to drive conflict in territories of great state weakness. Yet the Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, rich in gold, has become much less violent than the Kivus, the Congolese states just to the south of Ituri, where mining of much less valuable columbite-tantalite ores are suspected to drive intense, brutal conflict.

This paper examines Congolese mining law and discovers that enforcement varies greatly between the Ituri and Kivu regions. As a result, small, artisanal miners dominate "coltan" mining in the Kivus, but multi-nationals operate large-scale gold mines in Ituri. Combining literature on resource conflict, the paper develops a hypothesis that differentiated enforcement of mining law allowed multi-national firms to shift the balance of militant interests away from capitalizing on chaotic economies of war and toward creating a more stable market for protection.

Inclusive but Unequal: The Enigma of the 14th SNRC and the Four-Point-Five (4.5) Factor

by Mohamed Eno

in Abdulahi A. Osman & Issaka K. Souare (Eds.) Somalia at the Crossroads: Challenges and Perspectives on Reconstituting a Failed State. London: Adonis & Abbey Publishers

Intellectualism amid Ethnocentrism: Mukthar and the 4.5 Factor

by Mohamed Eno

Co-authored with Omar A. Eno; Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies Vol.9, 2009, pp. 137-145.

Identity Crisis and Ethnic Marginalization in Somalia: The Case of the Bantu Jareer Community

by Mohamed Eno

VERITAS: The Academic Journal of St Clements University Vol. 1, No. 1, September 2009

The Journey Back to the Ancestral Homeland: The Return of the Somali Bantu Wazigua to Modern Tanzania

by Mohamed Eno

Co-authhored with Omar A. Eno;  In Abdi M. Kusow & Stephanie R.  Bjork (Eds.) From Mogadishu to Dixon: The Somali Diaspora in a Global Context. Trenton NJ: The Red Sea Press Inc.

Oxford Transitional Justice Research Debating International Justice in Africa

by Phil Dines

Oxford Transitional Justice Research

Drawing together academic and practitioner contributors from Africa and beyond, this collection highlights the... more Drawing together academic and practitioner contributors from Africa and beyond, this collection highlights the challenges that international justice has faced in addressing atrocities in Africa.


Assembling nearly two years of critical debates convened by Oxford Transitional Justice Research, the collection of nearly 60 essays explores the work of the ICC and other judicial processes at a crucial stage in the development of international justice in Africa.

The June 2010 review conference of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Kampala provides an opportunity to identify the successes and shortcomings of these processes and to lay the foundation for more effective approaches in the future.


The debates in this volume highlight that there is major disagreement over the performance and legacies of international justice institutions in Africa. The purpose of this collection is to deepen discussions of these issues and to provoke new questions about the past and future directions of international justice in Africa.