Ethiopian diplomacy during the Tigray conflict: Authoritarian powers and Abiy’s regime

The regime of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali in Ethiopia has been locked in a conflict with the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front...

Long read: What motivates China’s investment & lending practices in Africa?

Since the wave of independence in the 1960s, African countries have faced numerous instances of debt distress in which they could not...

Russia in Africa – Undermining democracy through elite capture

To gain insight into Russia’s governance model in Africa, one only need look at the experience of the Central African Republic. Russian...

AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES & AFRICA – LAUNCH & INTRO!

Here at Democracy in Africa we are delighted to be launching one of our Special Issues, this time looking at the question...

Russian mercenaries in Africa: Central African Republic and beyond

The assignment was tough but do-able. The brief: to shoot a documentary film about the activities of the Wagner Group, a notorious Russian mercenary...

Authoritarian regimes and democratisation in Africa: China and Russia compared

When the "third wave" of democratisation swept across much of Africa in the aftermath of the Cold War, hopes were high that...

How international actors encourage coups in Africa

The 82 coups Africa experienced between 1960 and 2000 were devastating for the continent—contributing to the instability, corruption, human rights abuses, impunity,...

How popular is China in Africa? And how do people think...

It’s been 20 years since the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation was first held. Another summit is planned for September 2021 in Dakar,...

Sino-Angolan relations: Old oil and new politics

The China–Angola relationship was forged for purely pragmatic reasons at an opportune moment of mutual need in the early 2000s. For that...

The scourge of popular coups in Africa

The recent spate of coups in Africa has generated considerable attention and concern. Between 1999 when the African Union (AU) was established...