Africa

316 Items

26th Africa Business Conference (ABC) held at Harvard Business School (HBS)

Panel Director, Mubashir Ekungba

Analysis & Opinions - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Mapping a Way Forward with African Businesses in a Globalized World

| Mar. 19, 2024

Africa is home to approximately 1.4 billion people[1], about 16 percent of the world’s population, yet its continental share in global trade remains below 3 percent[2], according to the World Trade Organization (WTO). This suboptimal proportion of world trade is compounded by Africa's limited intra-continental trade. During the 26th Africa Business Conference (ABC) held at Harvard Business School (HBS) on the 17th of February 20, 2024, industry experts, policymakers, students, faculty members, and entrepreneurs converged to interrogate these concerns and explore opportunities for improving intra-African trade. 

Book - University of Michigan Press

Capital Choices: Sectoral Politics and the Variation of Sovereign Wealth

| Mar. 07, 2022

Capital Choices analyzes the creation of different SWFs from a comparative political economy perspective, arguing that different state-society structures at the sectoral level are the drivers for SWF variation. Juergen Braunstein focuses on the early formation period of SWFs, a critical but little understood area given the high levels of political sensitivity and lack of transparency that surround SWF creation. Braunstein’s novel analytical framework provides practical lessons for the business and finance organizations and policymakers of countries that have created, or are planning to create, SWFs.

Dr. Justin Jacob runs a sample COVID-19 test inside a mobile testing lab unit that will begin testing in response to the Coronavirus outbreak, Tuesday, April 28, 2020, in Washington.

Andrew Harnik/AP

Analysis & Opinions - Project Syndicate

What Caused the COVID-19 Testing Deficit?

| Apr. 30, 2020

As the divergent experiences of the US and South Korea show, testing can be the difference between disease containment and catastrophe. Rather than relying on national governments to ensure the rapid development, production, and deployment of diagnostics during outbreaks, the world needs a global coordinating platform.

Dr. Gesche Joost on the Impact of AI and Digitalization on Social Cohesion

Belfer Center/Benn Craig

Analysis & Opinions - Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship

The Impact of AI and Digitalization on Social Cohesion

    Author:
  • Winston Ellington Michalak
| Apr. 01, 2020

February 24th, 2020, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Dr. Gesche Joost, Professor of Design Research at the Berlin University of the Arts and head of the Design Research Lab since 2005, discussed the digital divide and how it will shape social connectivity in an event moderated by Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook, Executive Director of the Future of Diplomacy Project and the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship, and Lauren Zabierek, Executive Director of the Cyber Project.

U.S. President Donald Trump

CNN Politics

Analysis & Opinions - Future of Diplomacy Project

Twitter Diplomacy: Preventing Twitter Wars from Escalating into Real Wars

| May 20, 2019

Just two weeks ago, a tweet cost the global stock markets roughly $1.36 trillion (or Australia’s annual GDP). With 280 characters on Twitter, the U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs on select Chinese imports, instilling lower market confidence, triggering significant volatility, and exacerbating existing political uncertainties. To explore what is really at stake in Twitter diplomacy, it is important to explore why Twitter diplomacy matters, why world leaders use it, what it means for diplomatic relations, and how governments can manage the associated risks.

Analysis & Opinions - Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship

Ambassador Romana Vlahutin: The EU's Connectivity Strategy

| May 10, 2019

As part of the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship’s (PETR) event series, Ambassador Romana Vlahutin, Ambassador at Large for Connectivity in the European External Action Service, addressed the EU’s new Connectivity Strategy in conversation with Philippe Le Corre, PETR affiliate and senior fellow with Harvard Kennedy School's Mossavar-Rahmani Center on Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Vladimir Putin with President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa during the BRICS Summit

Kremlin.ru

Analysis & Opinions - METRO U.N.

Russia in Africa

| Apr. 17, 2019

Russia was absent from Africa for two decades while the European Union, the US and China expanded their relations with the rising states of the continent. Russia’s trade has remained small, in 2018 about $ 17 billion for all of Africa compared with the EU’s $ 156 billion with sub-Saharan Africa alone. But Russia’s posture in Africa is beginning to pivot to the continent.

Former Prime Minister of Senegal Aminata Touré and Ambassador Nicholas Burns

Harvard Kennedy School

Analysis & Opinions

Africa Doesn't Fully Take Advantage of its Resources Because of its Leaders

| Oct. 30, 2018

On her visit to the Harvard Kennedy School, Aminata Touré spoke with Faculty Chair of the Future of Diplomacy Project, Nicholas Burns. Their conversation was published on Harvard's website - in which the former Prime Minister stated that Africa is not getting enough from its resources due to its leaders

View of General Assembly at UN Global Engagement Summit

UN Photo

Discussion Paper - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Exponential Innovation and Human Rights

| Feb. 27, 2018

Technological innovation and the politics of global justice are two fields that interact quite extensively in international diplomatic discourse and public debate. Controversial issues, such as accessing essential medicines, reducing greenhouse gases, conserving biological diversity, providing clean energy, and expanding the adoption of green technologies, require answers at the intersection of technological innovation, international diplomacy, and global justice. Our approach is to start off with the broader understanding that justice is rights-based and then proceed to analyze it using a goal-based framework. This brings into sharp focus the relationships between innovation and human rights.