Politics – Views & Research

Ecowas Court and women’s rights in west Africa: what’s working – and what isn’t

Maame Efua Addadzi-Koom, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)

Woman holding a poster that says "rescue our children / education is their right"

Nigeria’s school kidnapping threat is changing: 4 lessons from the 56-day Oyo attack

Saheed Babajide Owonikoko, Modibbo Adama University of Technology

South Africa’s public service: new laws aim to put competent people in charge and hold them to account

Busani Ngcaweni, University of Johannesburg

Elderly women sit in a row on a city pavement

Ethiopia’s peace deal is unravelling – what went wrong with the Tigray agreement

Alemayehu Fentaw Weldemariam, Indiana University

A large green metal piece of equipment with a scope that's lying on arid ground

Johannesburg and Medellín: what South Africa can learn from Colombia about fixing a broken city

Ivor Chipkin, University of Pretoria

Puddle of water with floating pollution on a city street

Online attacks on Kenyan journalists: what makes audiences join in, push back or stay silent

Kevin Mudavadi, Georgia State University; Bingbing Zhang, University of Iowa; Gregory Gondwe, University of Alabama; California State University, San Bernardino; Harvard University, and Shitemi Khamadi, Indiana University

A woman scrolling on a laptop while seated on the floor in a furnished room.

Maps can be misleading – on purpose – and their story becomes history. The case of Ethiopia

Daniel Waktola, Austin Community College

A light yellow map of Africa with a blue sea and blue national border lines, Ethiopia highlighted in red.

Morocco’s deadly wall across Western Sahara: why the 2,700km Berm was built and the damage it does

Joana Castro Pereira, Universidade do Porto and Simón Pardo de Donlebún Versaci, Universidade do Porto

A group of men and women holding up placards and flags on a busy street

South Africans and migrants: study tracks the barriers to being good neighbours

Mathias Alubafi Fubah, Human Sciences Research Council

Street scene with a poster saying No One Is Illegal

Ethiopia’s armed opposition unites against Abiy Ahmed: 5 reads on the country’s political struggles

Julius Maina, The Conversation and Kagure Gacheche, The Conversation

A boy playing a drum while standing in front of a row of men dressed in white robes

A decade on, Somalia’s federal pact benefits elites and al-Shabaab – but it fails the people

Nisar Majid, London School of Economics and Political Science

Africa’s Red Sea states face growing risks as Houthi rebels expand their reach

Burak Şakir Şeker, Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University

A ship on the sea in the dark with a bright light in front of it.

Have South Africans always been hostile to migrants? Historians map a chequered history

Zoe Groves, University of Leicester; Anusa Daimon; Henry Dee, and Julie Weise, University of Oregon

Crowd of people in a street, some holding placards

African Union peacekeeping is growing as UN missions decline: research finds a mixed record of success

Richard Fosu, Monash University; Ayotunde Giwa, Northern Arizona University, and Christopher Amrobo Enemuwe, Idaho State University

Armed people in a white vehicle with AU on its side, in a street

DRC’s cobalt exports contain unreported uranium – our study estimates the global nuclear risk

Ryan A. Manzuk, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Two people in a dug up and rocky area stuffing sacks

Sudan’s military is accused of using chlorine bombs: here’s how they work and what the law says

Anneleen van der Meer, Leiden University

A man dressed in army fatigues and wearing a gas mask while standing in front of a red flag and a painting of people coming out of a plane

Europe relies on Morocco to keep migrants out – Ceuta shows the political cost

Moha Ennaji, Université Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah

A group of men sitting and standing on rocks in a body of water

Niger’s failed coup is a warning to the Sahel’s military rulers: those with power must keep their promises

Salah Ben Hammou, Rice University

Soldiers in camouflage uniform, carrying weapons, and crowds in a street

Ethiopia-Eritrea tensions over Red Sea port have turned the Tigray peace deal into a political weapon

Hafte Gebreselassie Gebrihet, University of Oslo; University of Cape Town

A man passes by a destroyed tank on a town street.

Support evidence-based journalism. Journalism that you can trust.

Donate today

In the news

Construction workers stands next to large gas tanks.

Refinery rivalry: billion-dollar oil projects expose east Africa’s long-running regional tensions

Brendon J. Cannon, Khalifa University

Ethiopia is sliding back toward war – a look at what is driving the fighting and why it matters

Alemayehu Fentaw Weldemariam, Indiana University

Men in army fatigues walk down the street

South Sudan’s first election won’t be perfect – but another delay could be even riskier

Jan Pospisil

A man waving as he walks toward a transparent white box while surrounded by a small crowd of people

Tanzania’s Samia Hassan has ushered in a new era of authoritarianism: here’s how

Dan Paget, University of Sussex

A woman speaking into a microphone placed on a podium written Embassy of the United States of America

Global media networks simplify Ethiopia’s conflicts: insights from 5 years of data

Marew Abebe Salemot, Debark University; Behaliu Atenafu Dessie, Bahir Dar University; Kibrom Berhane Gessesse, University of British Columbia, and Mulatu Alemayehu Moges, University of Agder

A room with large screens, computers and several tables showing a newsroom setup.

Peace + Security

Yemen’s Houthis move to control crucial waterway – our research maps the countries most at risk

Johannes Lumma, University of Oxford and Jasper Verschuur, Delft University of Technology

A container ship at a Red Sea port in Sudan.

Have South Africans always been hostile to migrants? Historians map a chequered history

Zoe Groves, University of Leicester; Anusa Daimon; Henry Dee, and Julie Weise, University of Oregon

Conflict is rising in Ethiopia’s Tigray region: 5 steps that could stop a return to full-scale war

Teklehaymanot G. Weldemichel, University of Manchester

A group of people in a camp with makeshift homes made from iron sheets and built on sandy land.

Nigeria’s border closure failed to stop smuggling. Here’s why

Onyekachi E. Nnabuihe, Caleb University

A group of women sitting in a street; motorbikes on the road

A person's finger is held against a scanner on a rough wooden table

AI can make African elections more efficient – but trust must be built and proper rules put in place

Shamira Ahmed, European University Institute and Mehari Taddele Maru, European University Institute

Running for parliament in Malawi costs a fortune: economic crisis undermines democracy

Michael Wahman, The University of Texas at Austin and Nicholas Kerr, University of Florida

A woman looking at a list of names pasted on a multicoloured wall

Young Nigerian women want to go into politics – party rules and older men keep them out

Omomayowa Olawale Abati, University of Essex

Four women checking names displayed at a voting centre

Venâncio Mondlane is Mozambique’s political challenger: what he stands for

Luca Bussotti, Universidade Técnica de Moçambique (UDM)

Smiling man with microphones pointed at him

Election misinformation spreads faster than facts can be checked: 3 insights from Kenya’s experience

Michael Asiedu, University of St.Gallen

A typewriter with a piece of paper poking out halfway written 'election fraud'

You can republish our articles online or in print for free

All we ask is that you follow these guidelines

Migration

People standing outside white tents marked UNHCR that have been erected on bare ground.

Millions of Africans are displaced without crossing a border – and their needs are often overlooked

David James Cantor, School of Advanced Study, University of London

We asked Senegalese migrants why they leave home. Here’s what they told us

Pau Baizán, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

The South African apartheid movement’s close relationship with the American right – then and now

Daniel Conway, University of Westminster

US president Donald Trump shows South African president Cyril Ramaphosa some images on a flip chart

Refugee camps explained: why South Africa has avoided them

Franzisca Zanker, Arnold Bergstraesser Institute and Ulrike Krause, University of Münster

A topshot of makeshift housing on dusty ground

Ceuta crisis: anti-migrant ‘invasion’ rhetoric threatens Europe’s food supply and economy

Diana Tung, Universitat de Barcelona and Seth M. Holmes, Universitat de Barcelona; ICREA; University of California, Berkeley

People resting on benches in a city park.

Politics – Views & Research – The Conversation

Top stories

Ecowas Court and women’s rights in west Africa: what’s working – and what isn’t

Nigeria’s school kidnapping threat is changing: 4 lessons from the 56-day Oyo attack

South Africa’s public service: new laws aim to put competent people in charge and hold them to account

Ethiopia’s peace deal is unravelling – what went wrong with the Tigray agreement

Johannesburg and Medellín: what South Africa can learn from Colombia about fixing a broken city

Online attacks on Kenyan journalists: what makes audiences join in, push back or stay silent

Maps can be misleading – on purpose – and their story becomes history. The case of Ethiopia

Morocco’s deadly wall across Western Sahara: why the 2,700km Berm was built and the damage it does

South Africans and migrants: study tracks the barriers to being good neighbours

Ethiopia’s armed opposition unites against Abiy Ahmed: 5 reads on the country’s political struggles

A decade on, Somalia’s federal pact benefits elites and al-Shabaab – but it fails the people

Africa’s Red Sea states face growing risks as Houthi rebels expand their reach

Have South Africans always been hostile to migrants? Historians map a chequered history

African Union peacekeeping is growing as UN missions decline: research finds a mixed record of success

DRC’s cobalt exports contain unreported uranium – our study estimates the global nuclear risk

Sudan’s military is accused of using chlorine bombs: here’s how they work and what the law says

Europe relies on Morocco to keep migrants out – Ceuta shows the political cost

Niger’s failed coup is a warning to the Sahel’s military rulers: those with power must keep their promises

Ethiopia-Eritrea tensions over Red Sea port have turned the Tigray peace deal into a political weapon

Support evidence-based journalism. Journalism that you can trust.

In the news

Refinery rivalry: billion-dollar oil projects expose east Africa’s long-running regional tensions

Ethiopia is sliding back toward war – a look at what is driving the fighting and why it matters

South Sudan’s first election won’t be perfect – but another delay could be even riskier

Tanzania’s Samia Hassan has ushered in a new era of authoritarianism: here’s how

Global media networks simplify Ethiopia’s conflicts: insights from 5 years of data

Peace + Security

Yemen’s Houthis move to control crucial waterway – our research maps the countries most at risk

Have South Africans always been hostile to migrants? Historians map a chequered history

Conflict is rising in Ethiopia’s Tigray region: 5 steps that could stop a return to full-scale war

Nigeria’s border closure failed to stop smuggling. Here’s why

Elections + Governance

AI can make African elections more efficient – but trust must be built and proper rules put in place

Running for parliament in Malawi costs a fortune: economic crisis undermines democracy

Young Nigerian women want to go into politics – party rules and older men keep them out

Venâncio Mondlane is Mozambique’s political challenger: what he stands for

Election misinformation spreads faster than facts can be checked: 3 insights from Kenya’s experience

You can republish our articles online or in print for free

Migration

Millions of Africans are displaced without crossing a border – and their needs are often overlooked

We asked Senegalese migrants why they leave home. Here’s what they told us

The South African apartheid movement’s close relationship with the American right – then and now

Refugee camps explained: why South Africa has avoided them

Ceuta crisis: anti-migrant ‘invasion’ rhetoric threatens Europe’s food supply and economy

Most read this week

Yemen’s Houthis move to control crucial waterway – our research maps the countries most at risk

Maps can be misleading – on purpose – and their story becomes history. The case of Ethiopia

Ethiopia is sliding back toward war – a look at what is driving the fighting and why it matters

Morocco’s deadly wall across Western Sahara: why the 2,700km Berm was built and the damage it does

South Africa’s public service: new laws aim to put competent people in charge and hold them to account

Johannesburg and Medellín: what South Africa can learn from Colombia about fixing a broken city

Get evidence-based news in your inbox, for free