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.
Building Freedom to Build Democracy
Human Rights Day celebrates a precious proposition: each individual is a full member of society, with entitlements to opinion and behaviour that cannot be denied.
The Abuja-Pretoria axis should reboot and pivot toward solving Africa’s multitude of challenges
President Jacob Zuma, accompanied by seven members of his executive and a dozen business leaders, undertook a high profile and widely commented state visit to Nigeria earlier this month.
Unhappy South Africans
The World Happiness Index 2016 was released in Rome this week, ahead of World Happiness Day, which took place on 20 March – a day before South Africans celebrated their hard-won Human Rights Day.