Foreign Policy Blogs

Pain Radiates Outward

Political instability tends to emanate outward. In Guinea, for example, clearly the country’s political crisis begins in Conakry with a tale of political power struggles and infighting that soon turned toward violence and ultimately massacres. But radiating from those high-level clashes are consequences that batter an already suffering populace. The political strife augments and exacerbates social instability. And it causes regional leaders to fear spillover as so often happens in the region, where instability hardly stops at porous borders. Long after the worst of the tumult subsides, the effects will be felt.

 

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Author

Derek Catsam
Derek Catsam

Derek Catsam is an associate professor of history at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. Derek writes about race and politics in the United States and Africa, sports, and terrorism. He is currently working on books on bus boycotts in the United States and South Africa in the 1940s and 1950s, the Freedom Rides, and South African resistance politics in the 1980s. He has lived, worked, and travelled extensively throughout southern Africa. He is also a lifelong sports fan, with the Boston Red Sox as his first true love. He was one of about three dozen people to write books about the 2004 World Champion Red Sox, and the result is Bleeding Red: A Red Sox Fan's Diary of the 2004 Season. He writes about politics, sports, travel, pop culture, and just about anything else that comes to mind.

Areas of Focus:
Africa; Zimbabwe; South Africa; Apartheid

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