Why Kenya’s ivory stockpile destruction makes economic sense
Kenya destroyed its entire stockpile of elephant ivory; over 100 tonnes of ‘white gold’ went up in smoke on Saturday, 30 April 2016. This stock consists of both illegally harvested ivory (confiscated from poachers or traders) and naturally accruing ivory (from natural mortality).
Can technological advances improve governance in Africa?
Unless good governance is demanded by citizens, it will not be consistently supplied by authorities. For Africa, the nature of the relationship between governments and ordinary people, known as the social contract, has proven to be an enduring challenge in the post-independence period.
Sustainable Development: Perspectives from Southern Africa
The UN 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) seek to provide a holistic and integrated approach to ending global poverty and hunger by the end of 2030.
The Foreign Policies of African States in the Age of Democracy and Human Rights
The establishment of the AU in 2002 created opportunities for an ambitious democracy and human rights agenda in the foreign and continental policies of African states.
Paris Agreement Now Open for Signature! An opportunity for Africa’s reality-check on climate actions
On 22 April, the Paris climate agreement will be officially opened for signature at a special ceremony at the UN headquarters in New York. This represents a key opportunity for Africa to do a first reality-check on climate actions.
Space, Soil and Status: Insights From the APRM Into the Governance of Land in Africa
Land is central to Africa’s fortunes, and thus has occupied a prominent place in the inquiries of Africa’s home-grown governance review system, the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). This paper interrogates what the APRM’s reports from 10 participating countries have had to say on the land issue.
To the Ends of the Earth: Antarctica, the Antarctic Treaty and South Africa
One of the most effective global governance regimes of the post-World War II period that has received very little attention over the years is the Antarctic Treaty.
South Africa and the Nuclear Security Summits
The Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) process – to prevent non-state actors, particularly terrorists, from acquiring nuclear material – was launched with fanfare in 2010 by US President Barack Obama with a single ambitious objective ‘to secure all vulnerable nuclear material in four years’.
South Africa’s responsibility to the ‘poor, the voiceless and the least remembered’
Speaking in February at the annual council meeting of the South African Institute of International Affairs, I expressed my fear that the constitutional compact of the last 20 years seemed dull and rudderless today, and that our constitutional democracy was increasingly being undermined by corruption and lack of political accountability.
Eastern Promises: New Data on Chinese Loans in Africa, 2000 to 2014
Chinese loan finance is often misunderstood in Africa. In this paper, we provide an overview of a new database on Chinese loans and describe our research methodology for collecting this data.