Africa

Alexandra Huggins explores how Rwanda’s gacaca courts, focusing on restorative justice and reconciliation, helped heal deep societal divides and promote lasting peace after the genocide.

Katha Ray explores the impact of the prolonged conflict in Côte d'Ivoire on youth and stresses the importance of including young people in peacebuilding efforts to address the root causes of violence and promote sustainable peace.

Sarah Stortz argues that the international community has an opportunity to support democracy in Sudan, if it is willing to learn from its past mistakes.

Beyond the violence is a uniquely magnificent place, write Michael Henry, Will Slotznick and Mallika Sobti.

By Ehi Agbashi, Nivana Tesfayohannes, Temiloluwa Adeyemi, and Osasenaga Aghayere

Why was #EndSARS a powerful moment in Nigerian history? And what comes next?

By Hyppolite Ntigurirwa

Hyppolite Ntigurirwa, a Yale University 2020 World Fellow, uses ethnographic data to demonstrate how words can contribute to post-genocide reconciliation in Rwanda.

By Alex Defroand, Joshua Jacobs, Nelly Mecklenburg, Will Wright, Rebecca TeKolste, and Johannes Sosada

In our first ever podcast series, we talked with former presidential candidates, directors of major banks, academics, and journalists as we grappled with the implications of this year in politics and international affairs: Donald Trump’s election; Brexit; the ever-worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Syria; the refugee crisis; and the future of liberalism.

By Stephanie L. Schmidt

Four years after independence, South Sudan is still struggling to establish a new political system. This article lays out a strategy for developing interventions to achieve substantive rule of law goals by analyzing the context, national capacities, and needs and desires of the population.

An interview with Ambassador Johnnie Carson, Former Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of African Affairs (2009-2013) on the 2015 Nigerian Presidential Elections.

By Chris Lockyear

As hundreds of thousands of people in South Sudan struggle to survive the brutal conflict there, South Sudan’s labor minister recently dealt a potentially devastating blow: he ordered all international workers to leave the country.

By Goitom Gebreluel and Kjetil Tronvoll

Considering the unique history of colonialism and artificially created nation-states in Africa, the incidences of secession have been surprisingly few. Through a comparative analysis of Eritrea, Somaliland, and South Sudan, this article aims to account for post-secession variations in fragility, as well as contextualize the challenges South Sudan is currently facing.

By Eric Reeves

In December, 2012, commentary on the purported “coup attempt” in Khartoum provided little in the way of consensus about how serious the “coup” was, precisely who was truly involved, or how far planning had moved to an actual attempt.

By Cassandra R. Veney and Paul Tiyambe Zeleza

Since the 1990s, Kenya, like most African countries, has undergone a protracted transition to democracy. Studies on the subject tend to focus on specific events, actors, challenges, and roadblocks and offer prognoses that are often soon overtaken by new developments. In many studies ethnicity looms large as an explanation.

By Tuesday Reitano

A confluence of events – the successful end of the political transition, the formation of a promising new government headed by a new guard of civil society leaders, and the rollback and significant weakening of the militant terrorist group al Shabaab – offers the best hope for a peace that Somalia has had in decades.

By Nicoli Nattrass

U.S. commitment to fight- ing AIDS in Africa has traditionally been, and still is, buoyed by bi-partisan support. This support has remained strong post-2007. Even so, the view is widespread that African country governments ought to take greater ownership of combating the problem and reducing aid dependency in managing it.

By John-Michael Arnold

The phenomenon of strategic surprise—a category of unexpected events so consequential that they call into question the premises of existing strategy—has posed a recurring challenge to U.S. foreign policy. Although there is a voluminous literature on the subject, most scholars have focused on surprises unleashed as a deliberate strategy of states in their effort to seize the advantage against adversaries.

By Lucas Bento

Though it seemed that women in countries that played key roles in the Arab Awakening were destined for full emancipation, a number of developments are now undermining prospects for gender equality. But the foundations for change exist, and with the timely implementation of policies and ground-level programs focusing on economic empowerment, education and equality, the rights of women can be significantly improved.

By John Teton

The long-recognized human right of freedom from hunger remains unrealized because traditional remedies for addressing it continue to prove inadequate. Nonetheless, the goals of ending starvation and malnutrition worldwide can be achieved through a global commitment to the International Food Security Treaty, which will place that right under the protection of enforceable national and international laws, and catalyze the development of systems necessary to effect those goals.