Africa

38 Items

An Egyptian Army Helicopter flies over a crowd of pro-military demonstrators at Tahrir Square on July 26, 2013 in Cairo, Egypt.

AP Images

News

Podcast Collection: Rethinking the Arab State - Spring 2015 MEI Study Group with Prof. Michael C. Hudson

May 13, 2015

Audio recordings from MEI's Spring 2015 Study Group Rethinking the Arab State: the Collapse of Legitimacy in Arab Politics, with Professor Michael C. Hudson.

During the Spring 2015 semester, Prof. Hudson hosted a distinguished group of scholars to re-examine the foundational concepts of legitimacy, the state, civil society, religion, and regional stability in the wake of the Arab Uprisings.

The Arab Spring: Pathways of Repression and Reform

Oxford University Press

Book - Oxford University Press

The Arab Spring: Pathways of Repression and Reform

| April 26, 2015

The Arab Spring: Pathways of Repression and Reform investigates the wide variance of occurrence and outcomes of Arab uprisings and the deep historical and structural roots of power imbalances within societies to ask why regime change took place in only four Arab countries and why democratic change proved so elusive in the countries that made attempts.

Skyline of Boat Quay in Singapore, June 3, 2011. The cluster of skyscrapers in the right half of the photograph constitutes the Central Business District of Singapore.

Wikimedia CC 4.0

Analysis & Opinions - The Daily Nation

Africa Can Still Learn Important Lessons from Lee Kuan Yew's Work in Singapore

| March 24, 2015

"Lacking natural resources, the country was forced from the outset to adopt a long-term view that involved investing in human capital and imparting a strong work ethic. These are critical sources of economic transformation that continue to elude African countries. Their inability to focus attention on entrepreneurship, innovation, and management is partly a result of the excessive policy attention to the role of natural resources."

Dr. Mo Ibrahim at the Chatham House program, "Combating Global Corruption: Shared Standards and Common Practice?," 3 February 2014.

Wikimedia CC 2.0

Analysis & Opinions - The Daily Nation

Africa Needs More, Not Fewer, Governance Prizes

| March 5, 2015

"Mo Ibrahim has put a price tag on the quality of Africa's public leadership. The intensity of the debate shows that one prize is not enough. The time has come for Africans entrepreneurs to create more prizes to recognise, celebrate and inspire excellence in public leadership. That would be a more appropriate response to Mo Ibrahim's challenge."

News

Podcast: "The Resurgence of Egypt's 'Deep State'?" with Samer Shehata

March 3, 2015

An audio recording from Samer Shehata, Associate Professor of Middle East Studies, University of Oklahoma.

On March 3, 2015 at MEI, Prof. Samer  Shehata assessed the role of the military and pre-2011 regime figures in Egypt's political transition from authoritarianism to apparent democratic opening, and now back to a military-backed authoritarian government, to ask how useful the term 'Deep State' is to understanding Egypt's politics.

Press conference of the High and Independent Instance for the Elections in Tunisia, with Kamel Jendoubi.

Wikimedia Commons

News

Arab Transitions and the Old Elite

    Author:
  • Ellis Goldberg
| December 9, 2014

"To understand why the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings have had different outcomes, leave aside the dominant narrative of secularism, Islamism and the political weakness of the youth. [T]he more fundamental and essential role [is that] of the ruling elite, without whom no country can make the transition from authoritarianism to democracy. We must think of those old elites, even in a revolutionary uprising, as active participants who are neither passive nor innocent."

News

Podcast: "The Battle for Pluralism" with Marwan Muasher

October 22, 2014

An audio recording from Ambassador Marwan Muasher, Vice President for Studies and Director of the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former Jordanian Ambassador to the United States.

On October 22, 2014 at MEI, Ambassador Muasher looked back over four years of popular uprisings in the Arab World and took stock of the hope for transition to genuine stability, prosperity, and democracy and tools necessary to do the job.

Author's photograph of Salvador Allende mentioned in the article

Author's blog: http://nisralnasr.blogspot.com/

Analysis & Opinions - Mada Masr

A Tale of Two Coups

    Author:
  • Ellis Goldberg
| Oct. 02, 2013

"For obvious reasons the coup against President Mohamed Morsi has been compared to the coup against [former Chilean president Salvador] Allende. Emotionally the picture is compelling: democratically elected presidents forced out of office by generals who profoundly hated their politics and who then pursued increasingly violent campaigns against the remaining civilian opposition. In the world of American academic politics the comparison is especially powerful because it suggests that the anti-communism that drove policies a generation ago and now seems shameful and regrettable is surfacing again as “Islamophobia” or an irrational hatred of Islam. Saving democracy, a lost cause in 1973, is now possible and a moral imperative as the events of the past are replayed in a different part of the world with a different cast of characters."