Foreign Policy Blogs

Risks to Stability in Sub-Saharan Africa

Risks to Stability in Sub-Saharan AfricaQuoted directly from John Campbell at his Council on Foreign Relations’ Africa in Transition blog:

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has released ten case studies on “Assessing Risks to Stability in Sub-Saharan Africa.” The reports cover Angola, Botswana, Ethiopia,  Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan and Uganda. The papers, commissioned by the U.S. Africa Command, use a common framework, identifying conditions, catalysts, and triggers, to examine the stability and potential threats to each country.

[It may not be clear from the font and color of the block quotation, but if you click on each country or on the title of the reports there is a link hidden that will take you to the report.]

These are, needless to say, important contributions, though I would imagine that AFRICOM’s role in all of this will appear suspicious to some. Nonetheless these provide a significant resource even if we can quibble about some of the inclusions and omissions — Botswana but not the DRC? Ghana but not Cote d’Ivoire? Of course more reports may be forthcoming and the inclusion of some of these countries might indicate the US actually taking a longer-term view beyond following crises, which would be welcome.

 

Author

Derek Catsam

Derek Catsam is a Professor of history and Kathlyn Cosper Dunagan Professor in the Humanities at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. He is also Senior Research Associate at Rhodes University. 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 and on the 1981 South African Springbok rugby team's tour to the US. He is the author of three books, dozens of scholarly articles and reviews, and has published widely on current affairs in African, American, and European publications. He has lived, worked, and travelled extensively throughout southern Africa. 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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