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Archive for September, 2010

Nigeria’s 2011 Elections: Obstacles and Opportunities

This new electoral law contains important new provisions, including a requirement for party primaries and various steps to improve the efficiency of election result appeals. Significantly, it also requires electoral results to be declared at the polling unit and at the ward level…

September 29, 2010 · admin · 3 Comments
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Kenyan Human Rights Activist Arrested in Uganda

Al-Amin Kimathi, Executive Director of the Muslim Human Rights Forum (MHRF), was arrested last week in Uganda and brought up on terrorism charges in relation to the bombings this summer in Kampala.  Kimathi has been working over the last several years to document extraordinary renditions which involve US and Kenyan authorities. According to a statement [...]

September 24, 2010 · admin · 2 Comments
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Democratization and Securitization in Uganda

Whatever Uganda policy the Obama administration lays out this fall needs to put securitization back in the context of democratization. Neither peace nor good governance will be feasible without a strong commitment to accountability which extends to America’s straying allies in the war on terror.

September 22, 2010 · admin · 14 Comments
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• FEATURED RESEARCH: “Questioning Tocqueville in Africa”

  "Questioning Tocqueville in Africa: Continuity and Change in Civil society During Nigeria’s Democratization"

  Alexis de Tocqueville's influence on the democratization literature has encouraged the idea that transitions require an independent civil society. However this view reifies boundaries between state and society, and it over-predicts civil society confrontation with governments. Drawing upon Hegel, I develop a model that clusters organizations according to goal orientation and autonomy. I then examine civil society during Nigeria’s democratization. I attribute changes in autonomy and goal orientation of organizations to transnational organizing, coalition building, and repression. My findings question the assumption that autonomous organizations will challenge the state.

  (This article appears in the February 2011 issue of Democratization, vol. 18, no. 1)