The idea that Africa is booming is hot and sexy

News that Africa is boom­ing is going main­stream.  At least that is the point that is dis­cerned when major U.S. print and broad­cast­ing out­lets such as the Wash­ing­ton Post, New York Times, The Atlantic,  Chris­t­ian Sci­ence Mon­i­tor and NPR pick up on news of trans­for­ma­tion that is tak­ing place in con­ti­nen­tal Africa. These orga­ni­za­tions are devoting…

Niger 2010: Lessons in African Governance

Intend­ed Audi­ence: Stu­dents of African pol­i­tics ***Open book study: 1 hour. Please see ques­tions at end of the page. You are wel­come to sup­ple­ment your read­ing with mate­r­i­al out­side of the text book. What recent­ly hap­pened in Niger and what are the con­se­quences: The rever­ber­a­tions of a “soft coup” which occurred in the ura­ni­um rich nation of…

Africa’s New Era Continues with Gains in Peace and Democracy

In the world of fast-paced twen­­ty-four-hour news, to craft a pow­er­ful news head­line means the head­line should stand out and draw read­ers’ atten­tion amid a pletho­ra of sto­ries from all direc­tions. It’s a the­o­ry that applies to print and tele­vi­sion news–when pow­er­ful head­line news, embod­ied in sud­den peace agree­ments, rebel sur­ren­ders, may­hem, and con­flict, easily…

Kofi Annan — A Tribute

His full name is Kofi Atta Annan. Many of us have not reflect­ed on or digest­ed the role that he has played in inter­na­tion­al rela­tions, diplo­ma­cy, and world affairs since he took over lead­er­ship at the Unit­ed Nations almost nine years ago. We looked away out of a lack of inter­est in real lead­er­ship from people…