democracy

ADF STAFF The recent outbreak of coups in West Africa has cast a spotlight on some shortcomings in transitioning back to democracy. Since 2020, military juntas have swept to power in Mali (2021, 2022), Burkina Faso (twice in 2022) and…

ADF STAFF For a nation’s military to be ethical and effective, it must adhere to certain objective standards. Chief among those is its willingness to be subjected to civilian rule. That has not always been the case with African…

ADF STAFF Africa is less safe and less democratic than a decade ago, but there is still hope. The Mo Ibrahim Foundation published the stark conclusions of the latest Ibrahim Index of African Governance on January 25, 2023. But they have…

ADF STAFF Photos by: AFP/GETTY IMAGES fter Twitter deleted a post by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in 2021, Nigeria shut down access to the country’s most popular social media site for seven months. “The loss was humongous,”…

ADF STAFF The violence that engulfed South Africa in July 2021 shocked and traumatized the country. Many fear it could happen again if societal root causes are not addressed. President Cyril Ramaphosa called the wave of violence that hit…

ADF STAFF Arab Spring protests swept across North Africa and the Middle East in the early 2010s as citizens rose up in the face of years of autocratic rule. The protests produced a range of results, from the lasting chaos in Libya to a…