Category Archives: Videos

Managing Societal Fault Lines in Africa

Seth Kaplan | June 29, 2012 at 4:20 pm

The Atlantic Council’s Africa Center hosted a discussion on the book On the Fault Line: Managing Tensions and Divisions within Societies recently.

The panel was moderated by Mary Carlin Yates, former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Africa on the National Security Staff. It included J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center; Jeffrey Herbst, President of Colgate University; Greg Mills, Director of the Brenthurst Foundation; Joel D. Barkan, Senior Associate in the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; and Peter M. Lewis, Associate Professor and Director of the African Studies Program at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University.

It discussed the findings from the case studies of Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia and Somaliland, and South Africa, and the lessons to be gleaned from the experience of states which have made significant progress towards successfully managing their fault lines as well as those which, having failed to do so, have been torn by violence.

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More on Conflict and Security, Fragile States, Governance, Videos

Initiating and Sustaining Developmental States in Africa

Seth Kaplan | April 25, 2012 at 6:00 am

What policies and governance conditions are needed in Africa for it to match the economic and social achievements of Asia? This video, from a presentation at Johns Hopkins University, presents some answers. It presents the findings of two research projects, with important implications for the future of development in Africa. Note the focus on developmental states. It is the nature of the regime more than the way it gains power that matters. (more…)

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More on Africa, East Asia, Economic Development, Foreign aid, Governance, Policies, Poverty, Videos

Reforming Constitutions and Election Laws after the Arab Spring

Seth Kaplan | April 18, 2012 at 4:23 pm

Andrew Reynolds, John Carey, and Donald Horowitz spoke on reforming constitutions and election systems after the Arab Spring at the National Endowment for Democracy recently.

They argue for inclusiveness and the importance of electoral design to stability, equity, and institution building, all essential to democracy and development.