Ethnic quotas and the resilience of power-sharing in Burundi

While ethnic power-sharing has been an enduring institutional feature of Burundian politics over the last two decades, key political and military leaders...

Was Burundi’s late president just another democrat-turned-autocrat? Making sense of African...

Today’s political leaders, especially those in Africa, are often depicted as authoritarians. They seem to want power for power’s sake, and in...

IDAP Launch Event! The importance of ideas and ideologies in Africa...

The importance of ideas & ideologies in Africa 19 JULY 2022 4:00 PM UK/Nigeria, 5:00PM...

VIDEO: Traditional Leaders and Democracy in Africa – WATCH NOW!

Watch the inaugural joint webinar of the Institute for Democracy, Citizenship and Public Policy in Africa at the University of Cape Town...

Diversifying Africa’s militaries may be the key to successful democratization

The plight of African democracy is worsening. Global trends toward democratic backsliding have not spared the continent with incumbent leaders violating constitutional...

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,...

#Book Club: Edward Clay Reviews Michela Wrong’s Do Not Disturb

Do Not Disturb: The Story of a Political Murder and an African Regime Gone Bad, by Michela Wrong, London, Fourth Estate, 1 April...

How Social Media is Changing Politics in Africa

In our popular Book Club feature, Maggie Dwyer and Thomas Molony reflect on the key lessons of their important new volume on Social Media...

How Digital Repression Is Changing African Politics

Africa’s first election of 2021, featuring a presidential race in Uganda between President Yoweri Museveni and opposition leader Bobi Wine, provided a...

#BookClub: Building peace out of diversity and violence

A potent issue in designing institutions to address violent conflict is whether such institutions should explicitly recognize or avoid reference to ethnic identities.  Conflicts...