Kwame Nkrumah’s development state
Nkrumah's government was driven by large scale state development projects. They have a mixed legacy. Can Ghanaians “redeem” the fruits of his development visions?
Politics
The Ghetto President of Uganda
Bobi Wine, building off political protest of the last decade, has become a symbol for a new politics in Uganda.
Eddison Zvobgo and the struggle for Zimbabwe
Eddison Zvobgo was both implicated in and a critic of Mugabe's rule. He paid for it. His niece remembers him.
The contemporary state of Ethiopia
2018 witnessed a fundamental shift in how Ethiopia's ruling party governs. How did it come about, what is incomplete about this transition, and what happens next.
The now neglected history of Soviet anti-colonialism
A brief history of MN Roy, an Indian delegate to the Mexican Communist Party and how the Soviet Union came to support liberation efforts in colonized nations.
Brexit, diamonds and everyday corruption
The rise of populism across the US and Western Europe has been well documented, but it is not only an American or European issue. The case of Lesotho.
Marikana and the end of South African exceptionalism
South Africa's problems are no longer specific to the apartheid legacy, but about more global issues of poverty and inequality.
It feels like 1980: On the fall of Mugabe
For Zimbabweans, we're back where we started, then. Hope, no change. Still.
Eritrea beyond the media fanfare
So far, the only real beneficiaries of the rapprochement between Ethiopia and Eritrea are Ethiopia and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki.
The US and France backs Cameroon’s reign of terror
When will the state-sanctioned violence in Cameroon be sufficient to cause Western nations to stop supporting President Paul Biya and his military?
Why governance will go from bad to worse in Zimbabwe
Recent events reveal the Mnangagwa administration in Zimbabwe will extend, if not intensify, the kleptocracy, corruption and repression of the Mugabe regime.
Bring Back Our History
Everyone but the Chibok girls--subjects of #BringBackOurGirls--and their families in Nigeria have moved on, but history does not march on for the victims.
Expropriation without compensation? Ask the British.
On the eve of Zimbabwe's elections, it's worth reflecting on the British government's expropriation of Southern Rhodesia, and the mark that act left on the country 100 years later.
Thirty years after Cuito Cuanavale
A series of photos documenting the contemporary state of the site of perhaps the most decisive battle in the liberation of Southern Africa.
All you need to know about Ethiopia and Eritrea’s rapprochement
The pace of rapprochement between Eritrea and Ethiopia, longtime foes who have been in deadlock for the last 20 years, changes quickly. It is hard to keep up.
The new anti-migrant national consensus
Italian politics has taken a sharp turn to the right. Migrants, especially African ones, bear the brunt of their rhetoric. Its ground zero for a new rightwing politics.
Dambisa Moyo is wrong about the global economy – here’s why
Western media can’t seem to get enough of Moyo: her ideas stray little from old neoliberal mantras so endlessly recycled by establishment elites in the US and Europe.
Cette équipe tue les fascistes
en ce moment, le plus français de tous les français est un gamin noir d’origine algérienne et camerounaise nommé Kylian Mbappé.
The Rise Neoliberalism in Ghana
To address high unemployment in Ghana, “labor experts” foolishly present volunteerism as the way out of poverty and joblessness.
The Gall of the West–On State Visits to Nigeria
Emmanuel Macron's Lagos visit came and went in a long tradition of diversionary state visits by Western politicians who condescend to Nigerians.