Category: Burkina Faso

A new ‘Totalitarian Temptation’? Authoritarians rely on ideas too

     

Sudan’s transition promises to be anything but easy. Economic problems that sparked initial protests in 2018 still await complex solutions, and the state bureaucracy remains weak. How will the military… Read more »

Inequality, insecurity, China threaten Africa’s democratization

     

Nearly one in three people living in West and Central Africa fear losing their homes and land in the next five years, according to a survey of 33 countries, making… Read more »

Democracy under pressure: polarization and repression increasing worldwide

     

The quality of worldwide democracy and governance has fallen to its lowest level in 12 years, with much of the decline occurring in free societies where some governments rule with… Read more »

Civil society taking fight against violent extremism to ‘a whole new level’

     

  Iraqi security forces have made great progress toward defeating the Islamic State in Iraq. But whether this military success will translate into enduring stability will depend in large part upon the… Read more »

Challenge the narratives of civil society ‘demonization’

     

Civil society groups have been subject to “widespread demonization” recent years, and 2015 was a “dismal one for civil society around the world,” according to a report by an international… Read more »

Africa’s Democratic Hurdles

     

The political upheavals in Burkina Faso and Burundi have recently drawn international attention to the issue of term limits, but African leaders’ assaults on constitutional tenure restrictions have been under… Read more »

Perfect sandstorm? High stakes in the Sahel

     

There is only one region in which Boko Haram, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), and ISIS have all emerged as major threats – the Sahel. United Nations secretary-general Ban… Read more »

Spreading democracy at the touch of a button

     

During recent elections across Africa, new technologies have been harnessed to help monitor elected officials, bolster democracies and liberate election information, notes Stephen Abbott Pugh, an ICFJ Knight international journalism… Read more »

Burkina Faso and the Sahel: Turning Points in Elections and Security

     

Sub-Saharan Africa was long seen as relatively immune to the call of Islamist militancy because of its unorthodox religious practices — rooted in Sufism, a more mystical mode of Islam… Read more »

Taking stock of Burkina Faso’s democracy

     

  Last week, Burkina Faso seemed a bright spot in the troubled Sahel region of Africa. Little known and rarely discussed, the country found its way into international headlines after… Read more »