African Arguments

Top Menu

  • About Us
    • Our philosophy
  • Write for us
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter
  • RSS feed
  • Donate
  • Fellowship

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Country
    • Central
      • Cameroon
      • Central African Republic
      • Chad
      • Congo-Brazzaville
      • Congo-Kinshasa
      • Equatorial Guinea
      • Gabon
    • East
      • Burundi
      • Comoros
      • Dijbouti
      • Eritrea
      • Ethiopia
      • Kenya
      • Rwanda
      • Seychelles
      • Somalia
      • Somaliland
      • South Sudan
      • Sudan
      • Tanzania
      • Uganda
      • Red Sea
    • North
      • Algeria
      • Egypt
      • Libya
      • Morocco
      • Tunisia
      • Western Sahara
    • Southern
      • Angola
      • Botswana
      • eSwatini
      • Lesotho
      • Madagascar
      • Malawi
      • Mauritius
      • Mozambique
      • Namibia
      • South Africa
      • Zambia
      • Zimbabwe
    • West
      • Benin
      • Burkina Faso
      • Cape Verde
      • Côte d’Ivoire
      • The Gambia
      • Ghana
      • Guinea
      • Guinea Bissau
      • Liberia
      • Mali
      • Mauritania
      • Niger
      • Nigeria
      • São Tomé and Príncipe
      • Senegal
      • Sierra Leone
      • Togo
  • Climate
  • Politics
    • Elections Map
  • Economy
  • Society
  • Culture
  • Specials
    • From the fellows
    • Radical Activism in Africa
    • On Food Security & COVID19
    • Think African [Podcast]
    • #EndSARS
    • Into Africa [Podcast]
    • Covid-19
    • Travelling While African
    • From the wit-hole countries…
    • Living in Translation
    • Africa Science Focus [Podcast]
    • Red Sea
    • Beautiful Game
  • Debating Ideas
  • About Us
    • Our philosophy
  • Write for us
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter
  • RSS feed
  • Donate
  • Fellowship

logo

African Arguments

  • Home
  • Country
    • Central
      • Cameroon
      • Central African Republic
      • Chad
      • Congo-Brazzaville
      • Congo-Kinshasa
      • Equatorial Guinea
      • Gabon
    • East
      • Burundi
      • Comoros
      • Dijbouti
      • Eritrea
      • Ethiopia
      • Kenya
      • Rwanda
      • Seychelles
      • Somalia
      • Somaliland
      • South Sudan
      • Sudan
      • Tanzania
      • Uganda
      • Red Sea
    • North
      • Algeria
      • Egypt
      • Libya
      • Morocco
      • Tunisia
      • Western Sahara
    • Southern
      • Angola
      • Botswana
      • eSwatini
      • Lesotho
      • Madagascar
      • Malawi
      • Mauritius
      • Mozambique
      • Namibia
      • South Africa
      • Zambia
      • Zimbabwe
    • West
      • Benin
      • Burkina Faso
      • Cape Verde
      • Côte d’Ivoire
      • The Gambia
      • Ghana
      • Guinea
      • Guinea Bissau
      • Liberia
      • Mali
      • Mauritania
      • Niger
      • Nigeria
      • São Tomé and Príncipe
      • Senegal
      • Sierra Leone
      • Togo
  • Climate
  • Politics
    • Elections Map
  • Economy
  • Society
  • Culture
  • Specials
    • From the fellows
    • Radical Activism in Africa
    • On Food Security & COVID19
    • Think African [Podcast]
    • #EndSARS
    • Into Africa [Podcast]
    • Covid-19
    • Travelling While African
    • From the wit-hole countries…
    • Living in Translation
    • Africa Science Focus [Podcast]
    • Red Sea
    • Beautiful Game
  • Debating Ideas

Author: Nick Westcott

Home›Author: Nick Westcott
mm

Nick Westcott

Nick Westcott is Director of the Royal African Society. He was formerly an African historian and British diplomat, and latterly served as the EU’s Managing Director for Africa (2011-15). He is author of Imperialism and Development: The East African Groundnut Scheme and its legacy (James Currey, 2020).

  • Challenges for South Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa meets President Vladimir Putin of Russia at the Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi in 2019. Credit: GovernmentZA.
    PoliticsSouth AfricaTop story
    By Nick Westcott
    May 30, 2023
    368
    1

    The two defining challenges facing South Africa

    Stagnation at home and fence-sitting abroad are costing the country dearly, and the costs are only rising. South Africa is facing two fundamental challenges, one internal, ...
    Read More
  • The men in suits are back in their combat fatigues: Composite picture of head of the Rapid Support Forces, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, Hemedti', and Lt-Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who has led Sudan since 2019. Courtesy Wikicommons, and credit for Hemedti photo (Russian Federation), and Burhan (Govt of Azerbaijan).
    Conflict & CrisisSudanTop story
    By Nick Westcott
    April 19, 2023
    964
    3

    What Will Happen in Sudan?

    The current crisis exposes the motives of the men with guns. It requires, paradoxically, the intervention of a distracted international community that has done little to ...
    Read More
  • Peter Obi presidential campaign rally, Borno State, 28 Jan, 2023 (Photo courtesy: Peter Obi media team)
    NigeriaPoliticsTop story
    By Nick Westcott
    February 3, 2023
    810
    1

    Oligarchs, Oil and Obi-dients: The battle for the soul of Nigeria

    The end of the oil-fuelled patronage system may pose the greatest threat to the nation since the Civil War. Therein may lie its salvation. Nigeria’s elections ...
    Read More
  • Despite billions in aid over decades, the rise in living standards in Africa has been meagre. Some presidents, like Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana (pictured), are calling for countries to move "beyond aid". Credit: Paul Kagame.
    Book reviewEconomy
    By Nick Westcott
    August 19, 2022
    1799
    2

    How useful is aid to Africa?

    Mills’ latest book calls for donors to focus on democracies, but electoral systems can be as susceptible to corruption as autocracies. Since 1960, Africa has received ...
    Read More
  • Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba giving a public address after the coup in Burkina Faso. a
    Burkina FasoPolitics
    By Nick Westcott
    January 31, 2022
    1154
    0

    Making sense of the coup in Burkina Faso

    The latest coup in the Sahel again points to domestic and international distrust and policy failures. Another day, another coup in the Sahel. Within 12 months, ...
    Read More
  • Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia giving a speech in 2019. Credit: Paul Kagame.
    EthiopiaPolitics
    By Nick Westcott
    December 17, 2021
    1531
    0

    What could happen next in Ethiopia’s war of attrition?

    While Abiy may control the plains, the TPLF are almost impossible to defeat in the mountains. The one factor that could change things is external. All ...
    Read More
  • African VoicesBook LaunchBooks and ControversiesDebating IdeasEconomies and SocietiesPolitics and Political EconomyTexts and Contexts
    By Nick Westcott
    May 10, 2021
    1399
    0

    Putting Economic Policies into Practice: the K.Y. Guide

    Book Review Debate: Know the Beginning Well
    Read More
  • tigray talks Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia is known as having strong convictions but also being pragmatic. Credit: Paul Kagame.
    EthiopiaPolitics
    By Nick Westcott
    March 16, 2021
    3053
    8

    Ethiopia: PM Abiy’s three big challenges

    Abiy is known to have strong convictions but also for having a pragmatic streak. To find a path to peace, he will need both.  On the ...
    Read More
  • Tigray crisis Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Credit: Paul Kagame.
    EthiopiaPolitics
    By Nick Westcott
    November 13, 2020
    5385
    17

    Tigray: How Ethiopia reached this crisis point and how it could get out

    Virtually all Ethiopia’s neighbours and partners are against the conflict in Tigray, but can they stop it? The current crisis in Tigray has not appeared from ...
    Read More
  • coronavirus impact in africa
    Covid-19Economy
    By Nick Westcott
    March 18, 2020
    3043
    0

    Coronavirus’ triple hit in Africa on health, the economy and politics

    The effects of the global pandemic will go far beyond just health concerns. Read all our COVID-19 coverage  The coronavirus Covid-19 has delivered a massive shock ...
    Read More
1 2

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter


  • 81.7K+
    Followers

Find us on Facebook

Interactive Elections Map

Keep up to date with all the African elections.

Recent Posts

  • Senegal’s angry protesters are proud defenders of their democracy
  • We analysed climate research on Africa. Here’s what we found
  • Could the jihadis dismantle the Sahelian state?
  • Nigeria’s Happy City is on the brink of being swallowed by the sea
  • Cameroon: The keyboard warlords of the breakaway republic

Editor’s Picks

Editor's PicksNigerSociety

A forgotten community: The little town in Niger keeping the lights on in France

Welcome to Arlit, the impoverished uranium capital of Africa. From Niamey, the capital of the landlocked West African nation of Niger, we call ahead to a desert town in the ...
  • one day i will learn to speak my mother tongue

    One day I will learn to speak my mother tongue

    By Nyawira Githae
    June 8, 2022
  • Burna Boy claims to be a politically conscious “African Giant.” He’s not.

    By Wilfred Okiche
    December 17, 2021
  • ongwen wives uganda LRA

    “We need to stick together”: Meet the family made up of Ongwen’s ex-wives

    By John Okot
    June 15, 2021
  • View of Lake Kivu at Bukavu, South Kivu, DRC. Photo courtesy: MONUSCO/Abel Kavanagh

    Lines through the lake: Why the Congo-Rwanda border can’t be redrawn

    By Gillian Mathys
    May 2, 2023

Brought to you by


Creative Commons

Creative Commons Licence
Articles on African Arguments are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
  • Cookies
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
© Copyright African Arguments 2020
By continuing to browse this site, you agree to our use of cookies.