In April 2014, militant Islamist group Boko Haram abducted 276 schoolgirls from Chibok—a town in Borno State, northeastern Nigeria—making global news [1]. Widespread concern generated by the incident soon culminated in a global social media campaign, “Bring Back Our Girls,” with an accompanying Twitter hashtag, #BringBackOurGirls, that featured Tweets from notable world leaders and international […]
Essays
Essays present critical analysis and debate on a pressing issue in African peacebuilding.
Essays
Writing on African Peacebuilding: Reflection on Personal Experiences
by Ismail Rashid
Since everyone writes differently, formulating a standard set of advice on how best to pull together your research into an effective book, book chapter, article, or policy paper or brief is very difficult. In offering my personal experiences as a guide, I want to highlight choices and challenges I have faced, decisions I have made, […]
2016
Fees Must Fall: Lessons from Student Struggles in South Africa
by Everisto Benyera and Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni
South Africa is currently undergoing a resurgence in student protests, with students agitating for free, decolonized education. The most prominent of these movements are Rhodes Must Fall and Fees Must Fall. What, exactly, are RMF and FMF? In a nutshell, they are an expression of a deep problem haunting “post-colonial” Africa in general and South […]
Essays
South Africa’s Withdrawal from the Rome Statute: A Commentary on Moral Equivalence in International Relations
by Amy Niang
Although not entirely unexpected, South Africa’s announcement that it had taken steps to withdraw from the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court (ICC), has baffled many observers. South Africa is generally seen as a champion of human rights, given its liberal constitution, the existence of a strong civil society advocacy for […]
Essays
“Africanizing” Media Coverage of Threats to Peace and Security on the Continent
by Fredrick Ogenga
A recent surge of terrorism has compounded preexisting threats to Africa’s peace and security, manifesting in complex forms of conflicts that are undermining the continent’s developmental ambitions. Creative solutions are needed to mitigate conflict and address the new threats, which include religious fundamentalism and extreme forms of violence. Of particular note is terrorism, now mutated […]
Democracy, Development and Governance
Africa’s Development: The Paradox of Continental Integration and Closed Borders
by Obijiofor Aginam
By: Obijiofor Aginam[1] The Crux of the Argument The decolonization of most of Africa which largely occurred in the decade of the 1960s – heralded by the independence of Ghana in 1957 – led to the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) on 25 May, 1963. One of the primary aims of OAU […]
Essays
Do Religious Communities Hold the Key to Counter-Radicalization in Kenya?
by John Mwangi Githigaro
In the post-9/11 environment, religious communities have been considered vital partners in efforts to counter radicalization widely believed to be a factor that drives acts of violent extremism. Violent extremism is considered a transition phase in the radicalization process and is marked by the mobilization of violence. One notion of community defines it as individuals […]
Democracy, Development and Governance
Coping with Uncertainties: The Predicament of Nomadic Pastoralists in Southern White Nile State, Sudan
by Musa Adam Abdul-Jalil
Uncertainty is a permanent and constant risk for pastoralists, both in terms of the physical environment and the socioeconomic and political conditions surrounding them. The Southern White Nile State in Sudan is home to many such groups that have faced uncertainty for a long time as they have practiced the tradition of moving between north […]
Democracy, Development and Governance
Boko Haram: Cash Cow of the Sahel or Part of a Grand Strategy?
by Jude Cocodia
[Photo: A petrol station attendant counts Nigerian’s currency, the naira, in Abuja, Nigeria. Photographer: Suzanne Plunkett/Bloomberg] Between 2002 and 2011, the BBC and the British newspaper, The Guardian, consistently rated Nigerians as the world’s happiest people.[1] In sharp contrast, by 2013 a Forbes Magazine survey ranked Nigeria as the twentieth saddest place to live on […]
Essays
Why is the 18th July AU decision to adopt a new funding model so important?
by Linnéa Gelot
In an effort towards reducing the African Union’s (AU) financial dependency on external donors, the organization adopted a new funding mechanism at the recently concluded 27th AU Summit held in Kigali, Rwanda. The adopted approach, a tax levy of 0.2 percent on ‘eligible’ imports of all of its member states, had been recommended by a […]