On 29 November 2009, the U.S. television news show 60 Minutes aired a segment called “Congo Gold”. This segment purported to expose the link between gold and war in Congo, but there were three major problems with the 60 Minutes

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Here’s a paradox: declining levels of worldwide conflict and increasing violence against aid workers. The Human Security Report has documented a worldwide decline in the number and intensity of armed conflicts since 1992. This is a dramatic and consistent, though

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This article emerges from an assignment which the author completed for Dr. Jo L. Husbands-Rosenberg at Georgetown University in Spring 2009. Using only open-source material — whatever could be obtained with a library card and the World Wide Web —

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A new book edited by Sara Pantuliano, Uncharted Territory: Land, Conflict and Humanitarian Action (ODI and Practical Action, November 2009), breaks new ground in addressing the land dimension to crises, including Sudan. Land issues, particularly its access, ownership and use,

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It is disappointing how little attention there has been, including on this blog, to the civil society conference in Doha in mid-November, the first such meeting held under the auspices of the succeeding Mediations. Two weeks on, the only version

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Recently, two authors have published an interesting, thoughtful book titled The Scramble for Africa: Darfur—Intervention and the USA. The two authors of this book, Steven Fake and Kevin Funk, deeply analyze issues of particular significance, not only to the US

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The second part of my review of Patrick Chabal, Africa: The Politics of Suffering and Smiling, is posted at African Arguments. In this, I try to trace some of the key features of rule by the Sudanic kingdoms, arguing that

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This is the second in a two-part review of Patrick Chabal’s book, Africa: The Politics of Suffering and Smiling. This posting applies the account to an area of the continent that the author deliberately neglects, namely Ethiopia and the Sahelian-Sudanic

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I have published the first part of a two-part review of Patrick Chabal’s Africa: The Politics of Suffering and Smiling, on the African Arguments website. The first part is a general review of Bayart’s book, focusing on his treatment of

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This is the first in a two-part review of Patrick Chabal’s book, Africa: The Politics of Suffering and Smiling . Part one is a general review, part two applies the account to a part of the continent that the author

Read the rest of Ethics and Power in Africa »