Africa’s rising middle class is unlikely to be a “torch bearer” for greater democracy and social change, argues Henning Melber, Extraordinary Professor in the University of Pretoria’s Department of Political… Read more »
Kenya is facing a period of ‘dangerous limbo’ ahead of the official election result, observers suggest. Hackers broke into election commission computer systems and databases overnight, claims Kenya’s opposition… Read more »
2016 was a dismal year for liberal internationalism. But a new index of global “fragility” by the Fund for Peace (FfP) think-tank suggests that, overall, the world did not become… Read more »
One of Africa’s most stable democracies is quietly drifting into authoritarian rule, notes Nic Cheeseman of the University of Birmingham. Until now, Zambia’s progress under multi-party politics has been quietly… Read more »
The economist and philosopher Amartya Sen wrote that famines do not take place in true democracies. If democracy is in worldwide retreat, famines could make a gruesome comeback, The FT’s David… Read more »
Wednesday’s presidential vote is part of the rebuilding effort in Somalia, which was shattered by more than two decades of conflict and where clan loyalties still tend to trump policy… Read more »
In presenting the latest Levada Center poll on Russian attitudes toward the West, the center’s Aleksey Grazhdankin says that a majority of Russians think that the initiative for improving East-West… Read more »
The horrific violence in the Middle East, which in the case of Syria has led to the greatest refugee crisis in a generation, and appalling terrorist attacks — as we were sadly… Read more »
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 »
A major new study released on International Women’s Day offers insight into how non-violent Islamist ideology overlaps with the violent Islamism of groups including Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda (AQ). The… Read more »