Publications

The middle classes have at times been heralded to be a guarantee for democracy. Studies that find a positive correlation (which should not be confused with causation) often use national economic data as a proxy for class and compare it to the current regime type.

On June 5th 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain broke off diplomatic relations with Qatar and agreed to isolate the Emirate via an air and land blockade.

Between 15-21 November 2017, a day short of one week, Africa’s second longest-serving leader, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe was forced out of office through a spectacular coup d’État. The collapse of Mugabe is hardly surprising, with the country having experienced close to two decades of...

Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, is driven by fascinating urban dynamics. The country’s institutional setting is influenced by the legacies of the different political regimes of the last 50 years, which have left visible traces on the urban fabric.

What is the political significance of Southern Africa’s “hashtag movements”, socio-political campaigns using social media to disseminate information and to mobilise concerned and previously quiet segments of the public? 

By organising TICAD (Tokyo International Conference on African Development) for the first time in Africa in August 2016, Japan intended to accelerate and deepen its relationship with the continent. 

What makes you middle class? Is it your income, occupation, or education? Your family background or maybe the house and neighbourhood you live in? It is probably all of these things. 

October 2016 presented a grim test for the fourteen-year-old International Criminal Court (ICC) as three Sub-Saharan African countries, Burundi, South Africa and Gambia announced their decision to opt out of the international judicial body. 

Up until recently, little attention has been paid to the crisis which the Ethiopian regime has nonetheless been sinking into for more than two years. The rare spotlights focused on this country have praised its economic performance, describing it as a new “Far East” or even an “African lion”....

In January 2016, the Kenyan supermarket chain Uchumi has filed bankruptcy for its Ugandan subsidiaries, due to perpetual losses. And they are not alone: companies like Nestlé, Coca Cola or Barclays are slowly pulling out of Africa and recent reports – such as the