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Archive for November, 2010

Security Sector Reform and AFRICOM in Liberia

AFRICOM’s new “think tank,” the Social Science Research Center (no relation to the 90 year old Social Science Research Council based in New York) recently published a study on “Civilian and Enlisted Perspectives on the Armed Forces of Liberia.”  The report comes at an important time.  Not only is the U.S. military taking over direct [...]

November 28, 2010 · admin · One Comment
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AFRICOM, Foreign Aid, and African Economic Growth

My new article, “The Political Economy of African Responses to the U.S. Africa Command,” appears in the current (fall 2010) issue of Africa Today.  Using an original dataset of over 500 references in African print and radio media outlets from 28 countries, the study uses content analysis to link aid dependence overall – and aid [...]

November 28, 2010 · admin · 3 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)