The country’s revival of the Sedition and Subversion Act is a revival of a colonial law that stifles human rights.
Nepotism, graft, shifting ideologies: Southern Africa’s liberation parties have experienced historic setbacks in 2024
Ultimately, a vote for Harris is a vote against the extremism and corruption of Trump, but it is not necessarily a vote for a more just or ethical foreign policy
Unlike ANC governments, we must practise consistent, inclusive solidarity and internationalism
Authoritarian systems reject challenges to themselves – yet just that is happening in Ukraine and Russia, China and Iran
Authoritarian regimes use spying to deter protest. But this can encourage people to stand up for what they believe in
Magufuli will be remembered for rolling back Tanzania’s democratic gains, making the country an unwelcome investment destination and denying the existence of the Covid-19 pandemic
As war drums beat again in Ethiopia, author Maaza Mengiste finds new language to memorialise the Second Italo-Ethiopian War
Authoritarian leaders have often used natural disasters to tighten their grasp on power. We are seeing the same happen during the coronavirus crisis, in dictatorships and democracies alike
Both authoritarian and democratic governments are responding to the coronavirus crisis by instituting frightening new powers
In India and the Philippines, strongmen have consolidated immense power through democratic means. How do we explain this?
There are a number of cases in the past decade where Africans have managed to push the conversation beyond liberal reforms as a political goal or did not spent all their energies on the politics of nostalgia, harkening back to a simpler time of national liberation or charismatic leaders. Young people, a generation with no […]
The unstable pathway many post-colonial African states followed was facilitated by the way in which European empires undermined democratic elements
While millions have hit the streets in remarkable scenes of peaceful people power, protests have also sunk into violence
A nationalistic, gangster political faction is ready to exploit the crisis created by social inequality
Elections can be used to build a movement that advances a democratic socialist alternative
Other African countries should not be so quick to blindly copy South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission model
In Tanzania today, political space has shrunk to the point where protests are suppressed before they emerge
More leaders in more African countries will abolish term limits unless organisations like the African Union take action
"You should care about the connection between reduced media freedom and a weaker democracy"