Debating Ideas
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An Economy Without Permission
In cities like Marrakech, Dakar, and Dubai, art markets are curated as economic and cultural infrastructure. In Lagos, the Lekki Art Market offers the ... -
Ukraine Is Coming to Africa. But Did Anyone Ask Africa?
On 25 March 2026, a high-level interagency coordination meeting took place at Ukraine’s Presidential Office, chaired by Kyrylo Budanov. The subject was the expansion ... -
African Arguments Relaunching for 2026
Dear readers, In early 2025, the Royal African Society decided to undertake a comprehensive review of the African Arguments platform. A flagship digital publication and one of the most respected ... -
A Death in Bissau: Vigário Luís Balanta and the Risks of Civic Life in Guinea-Bissau
The body of Vigário Luís Balanta was found on March 31, 2026, in the Ndam area, about 30 kilometers from Bissau. Early reporting and ... -
Why African Borderlands Keep Burning
Dr Olivier Walther and Dr Steven Radil share findings from their ongoing research on African borderlands including a forthcoming article in Applied Geography. Africa’s margins ... -
Ghana’s Cocoa Crisis Is Not a Price Story: It Is a Governance Failure
In February 2026, Ghana did something it had not done in living memory. It cut the guaranteed farm-gate cocoa price by 28.6 percent in ... -
Controversial Chadian Law Risks Increased Rural Violence
A silent conflict between herders and farmers, competing for access to insufficient resources, has been plaguing Chad for decades. But the Chadian government’s recent ... -
Sudan’s War Was Not a Breakdown. It Was the System Working.
In April 2023, the immediate trigger for Sudan’s war was not an ideology, not an election, and not a border dispute. It was an ... -
Ethiopia’s Election and the Death of Political Choice
When people say Ethiopia’s 2026 election will not be free or fair, they are right. But that description is still too soft for what ... -
Presidential Elections in the Republic of Congo
On 15 March, the Republic of Congo staged its fifth presidential election since Denis Sassou Nguesso reclaimed power after the 1997 civil war. Few ...
