2018
“The Enigma of Boko Haram: Indigenous Islamist Movement or Global Jihadist Threat?”
Alex Thurston, Assistant Professor of African Studies at Georgetown University
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
“The Disintegration of the Military Integration Process in South Sudan, 2006-2013”
Lesley Ann Warner, PhD Candidate in War Studies at Kings College London
Monday, April 9th, 2018
“Show Time: The Logic and Power of Violent Display”
Lee Ann Fujii, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto
Wednesday, February 21st, 2018
“Reform in South Africa: Does a Change in Leadership Signal a Revival of the ANC’s Historic Vision and Values?”
Nicholas Wolpe, Founder and CEO of the Liliesleaf Trust
Wednesday, April 18th, 2018
“Women and the War on Boko Haram”
Hilary Matfess, Yale University
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
2017
“Jihadism in the North, Islamism in the South: The New Dynamics of Islamic Activism in Mali”
Ibrahim Yahaya Ibrahim, University of Florida
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
“Party Politics and the 2017 General Election in Kenya”
Ken Opalo, Georgetown University
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
“Does Democracy Reduce Ethnic Favoritism in Africa?”
Jeremy Horowitz, Dartmouth
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
“State Border Strategies and Transnational Extremist Groups in the Sahel-Sahara”
Olivier Walther, Associate Professor of African Studies at the University of Florida
Wednesday, November 15, 2018
“State Capture and the Politics of ‘Elite Populism’”
Ivor Chipkin, Founding Director of the Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI)
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
“Why Are Africa’s Conflicts Sometimes Ethnic and Sometimes Religious?”
John McCauley, Associate Professor of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
2016
Book Launch: “How South Africa Works and Must Do Better”
Dr. Jeffery Herbst, President and CEO, The Newseum
Dr. Greg Mills, Director Brenthurst Foundation, Johannesburg
Ambassador Donald Gips, (South Africa, 2009-2013)
February 19
2015
“Citizen Education after Political Transition: Experiences from Kenya and Ethiopia”
Lahra Smith, Georgetown University
February 4
“DR Congo Telema Democracy Protest: The Road to the 2016 election”
Franck Diongo, Member of Parliament, MLP; Martin Fayulu, Member of Parliament, ECiDé;
February 12
“How Education Reduces Political Participation under Electoral Authoritarianism: Evidence from Zimbabwe”
Kevin Croke, SAIS Alum 2011, Harvard School of Public Health
March 4
“The Pivotal Presidential Election in Cote d’Ivoire: Greater Reconciliation or the Risk of War?”
Patrick Anderson Zadi Zadi, Groningen University
September 16
“Democracy and the Challenge of Political Change in Nigeria”
Dr. Usman Bugaje, Convener of Arewa Research and Development Project
November 4
“How to Make Government Work for Africa”
Nick Thompson, CEO of the African Governance Initiative
November 9
“Can South Africa’s Decline be Reversed?”
Jeffery Herbst, President and Chief Executive Officer, NEWSEUM
November 11
“Internationally Assisted Elections: The Impact on Transitional Countries—Sierra Leone, Liberia, Burkina Faso, and Congo”
Arsène Brice Bado, University of Laval and Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
November 18
2014
“Youth in Burundi: Challenges and Opportunities in the Lead-up to the 2015 Elections”
Marc Sommers, visiting researcher at the African Studies Center at Boston University; Audace Machado, journalist for Voice of America; and Mike Jobbins, senior program manager for Africa at Search for Common Ground
March 27
“Tunisia’s Transition: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow”
Nacef Belkhiria, Executive Vice President of BSB Group Tunisia and member of the Tunisian-American Friendship Association
April 3
“The 2015 Nigerian General Elections: Understanding Hopes and Fears”
Usman Bugaje, founding Chairman of Network for Justice
April 11
“Constitutional Amendment in an Emerging Democracy: The Nigerian Experience”
Sen. Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy President of the Senate of Nigeria
April 14
“Voices Unheard? Rising Demand for Democracy in Africa”
Carolyn Logan, Michigan State University
September 18
“The Role of Political Parties in an Emerging Democracy: A Nigerian Perspective”
Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila
September 24
“Election Violence in Democratizing States: Africa in Comparative Perspective”
Leonardo Arriola, University of California, Berkeley
October 29
“Succession after Presidential Deaths: Comparing Contemporary Malawi and Zambia”
Boniface Dulani, University of Malawi at the Department of Political & Administrative Studies
Kim Yi Dionne, Smith College at the Department of Government
November 17
2013
“Looking Past Kenya’s Election: Ethnic and Institutional Challengers to Inclusive Development”
Karuti Kanyinga
Senior Research Fellow, University of Nairobi
Mwangi S. Kimenyi
Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
February 19
“Tunisia: Are Economic Decline and Political Violence Prevailing?”
Moderator: Daniele Moro, African Studies JHU-SAIS
Panelists: Mustapha Kamel Nabli, Governor of Central Bank of Tunisia, Senior Advisor t o World Bank Chief Economist
Emanuele Santi, Principal Country Economist- Tunisia African Development Bank
Stephen McIhirney, Executive Director, Project on Middle East Democracy
Alexis Arieff, Analyst in African Affairs, Congressional Research Service
February 21
“Political Prospects and Democratic Challenges in Nigeria”
General Ike Nwachukwu
Chairman Governing Council, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs
March 11
“The Role of Governors in Nigeria’s Federal Democracy: Meeting the Challenges”
Governor T.A. Orji
Abia State, Nigeria
March 12
“Does Information technology Flatten Interest Articulation? Evidence from Uganda”
Guy Grossman, University of Pennsylvania
March 13
“Informal Institutions, Trust and Democracy in Ghana”
Richard Asante, Visiting Fellow, Northwestern University
March 27
“Algeria between Reform and Stability”
Moderator: Daniele Moro, African Studies, JHU-SAIS
Panelist: I William Zartman, Professor Emeritus, Conflict Management, JHU-SAIS
Eamonn Gearon, Professorial Lecturer, African Studies, JHU-SAIS
March 28
“Fraud and Vote Patterns in Kenya’s 2013 Election: Evidence from an Exit Poll”
Clark Gibson
Professor, University of California, San Diego
James Long
Visiting Scholar, Harvard University
Assistant Prof., University of Washington
May 2
“Is Democracy the Best Form of Governance in Africa?”
Sponsored by SAIS Africa Association and Afrimind
Pape Samb, President and CEO, Phelps Stokes
Amb. Dhanojok Obongo, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of South Sudan
Julius Agbor, Research Fellow, Stellenbosch University
September 25
“Shrinking Democratic Space Ahead of the 2015 elections: Re-engaging the International Community to Stabilize Burundi and the Region”
Frédéric Bamvuginyumvira, Vice-Chairman of FRODEBU and Former Vice-President of the Republic of Burundi (1998–2001)
Alice Nzomukunda, Chairwoman of ADR and Former Second Vice-President of the Republic of Burundi (2005–2006)
Marina Barampama, Member of UPD and Former Second Vice-President of the Republic of Burundi (2006-2007)
Alexis Sinduhije, Chairman of MSD, One of 2008 Times 100, Former Journalist, and Founder of Radio Publique Africaine (African Public Radio).
October 3
“The Struggle for Freedom in Kenya”
Raila Odinga
Former Prime Minister (2008-2013)
Republic of Kenya
October 15
Event Video
“A Coup in Bamako: How Mali’s Government Lost and Regained Political Legitimacy, 2012 – 2013”
Dr. Bruce Whitehouse, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Lehigh University
October 23
“Inside South Africa’s Transition: Challenges of Post-Liberation Governance”
Barry Gilder, Mapungubwe Institute
November 20
2012
“Why Repeated Elections Don’t Always Lead to Better Democracy: the Case of Côte d’Ivoire and the Need for Stronger Institutions”
Maja Bovcon, University of Oxford
February 22
Event Video
“What’s Next? Mali in the Aftermath of the March 22 Coup d’état”
Susanna Wing, Haverford College
April 16
Conference: “The New African Democracy: Information Technology and Political Participation”
May 1: webcast
May 2: webcast
2011
“Political Uprisings in Senegal: Insights, Context, and The Way Forward”
Arame Tall, PhD Candidate, SAIS African Studies
September 8
“Populism in Africa: How the Opposition Won the 2011 Zambian Election”
Nic Cheeseman, University of Oxford
November 15
2010
“Law and Democracy in Government: The Kenyan Experience”
Migai Akech, Visiting Fellow, National Endowment for Democracy
February 17
“African Governance in the Post-Independence Era”
Joel Barkan, Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Iowa
Michael Bratton, Professor of Political Science, Michigan State University
Said Adejumobi, Associate Professor of Political Science, Lagos State University and Governance Advisor at the ECOWAS Commission, Abuja, Nigeria.
October 27
2011
“Elections, Society and State in Guinea After 2011”
Siba N’Zatioula Grovogui, The Johns Hopkins University
February 9
“The Egyptian Uprising: Context and Contestation”
Diane Singerman, School of Public Affairs, American University
March 9
“Violence, Partisanship and Transitional Justice in Zimbabwe”
Michael Bratton, Michigan State University
March 17
“Wireless Democracy: Innovation in Africa”
Wayan Vota, Inveneo
Matthias Chika Mordi, Accender Africa
Sean McDonald, FrontlineSMS
Paul M. Lubeck, Global Information Internship Program, UC Santa Cruz
Katie Dowd, Advisor for Innovation, Department of State
March 29
2009
“Guinea after the Coup: New Opportunities for Reform”
Frederic Loua, Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy
February 13
2008
“Kenya’s Crisis: Origins and Prospects”
David Throup, CSIS Africa Program/ SAIS Africa Program
Joel Barkan, University of Iowa
Stephen N. Ndegwa, Visiting Scholar, UCLA Globalization Research Center -Africa and The World Bank
Shari Bryan, NDI
January 25
“Gender, Power and Peacemaking in Africa”
Aili Tripp, Woodrow Wilson Center Fellow, Professor of Political Science and Women’s Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
February 27
“Elections in Africa: Democratic Challenge and U.S. Response”
Africa Day Conference
April 4
“Civic Education and Democracy Building: The Case of Post-war Liberia”
Eddie Jarwolo, Founding Director of the National Youth Movement for Transparent Elections–Partners for Democratic Development (NAYMOTE–PADD)
April 23
“W(h)ither Democracy in South Africa?”
Robert Mattes, Professor of Political Science, University of Cape Town
September 9
“Zimbabwe: Political Crisis and Regional Implications”
Akwe Amosu, Senior Policy Analyst for Africa, Open Society Institute
September 17
“When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: Reflecting on the Current Situation in Zimbabwe”
Peter Godwin, Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
October 24
“The 2008 Election in Ghana: A Re-run of the 2000 Election?”
Cyril K. Daddieh, Director of Black World Studies, Miami University of Ohio
October 31
“Rejecting the Disloyal Opposition? The Trust Gap in Mass Attitudes Toward Ruling and Opposition Parties in Africa”
Carolyn Logan, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Michigan State University
November 19
“The role of community radio in post-conflict West Africa: Sierra Leone and Liberia”
Andrew Kromah, Independent Radio Network, Sierra Leone
November 10
2007
“Guinea: Transition or Conflict?”
Ambassador Dane F. Smith (ret), Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic & International Studies. Amb.
February 2
“The Power of Elections in Africa”
Staffan I. Lindberg, Assistant Professor Department of Political Science and Center for African Studies, University of Florida
February 7
“Kenya’s Reform Agenda and Its Vision 2030”
Honorable Amos Kimunya M.P, Kenyan Minister of Finance
March 22
“Popular Attitudes to Democracy in Africa: Formal or Informal?”
Michael Bratton, Professor of Political Science and African Studies at Michigan State University
March 28
“Black Gold: How Oil Threatens Peace and Democracy in East Africa”
Angelo Izama, Director of special projects at the Daily Monitor
October 12
“Turning Out the Vote: Understanding Participation in Africa’s Electoral Regimes”
Gina Lambright, George Washington University
October 22
Conference: “50 years of Ghana’s Independence”
Jon Kraus, Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science, SUNY Fredonia
Cyril Daddieh, Director, Black World Studies, Miami University
Anna Bossman, Acting Director, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice- Accra
H. Kwasi Prempeh, Associate Professor of Law, Seton Hall University School of Law
November 2
“Zimbabwe’s Democratic Challenge: What Role Should the International Community Play?”
Tapera Kapuya, Coordinator of the South Africa office of the National Constitutional Assembly
November 14
2006
“The Zimbabwe Problem: Inside the Collapse and Prospects for Recovery”
Todd Moss, Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development
September 13
“Emerging Legislatures in Africa’s New Democracies”
Joel Barkan, University of Iowa
September 27
“Boundary Politics and Government Responses to HIV/AIDS”
Evan Lieberman, Department of Politics, Princeton University
November 15