How does Chinese aid interact with level of democracy in poor countries?
It is a commonly accepted idea in IR theory that states have the habit of externalizing their domestic institutions [and accompanying economic and political systems] in their engagements within the...
View ArticleNetflix is making thousands of Americans flunk geography
You can’t make this stuff up: The show began to air in 2010. This is its description as of February 3rd, 2015. That said, if you have to visit Africa, the place to go is KENYA! Because of this:...
View ArticleAfrica’s Billionaires in 2014
Only 9 out of 54 African countries are represented on the 2014 Forbes billionaires list. There are certainly more than 29 dollar billionaires on the Continent (most of the rest being in politics)....
View ArticleTurns out oil prices are so low it’s cheaper to sail 9,000km around Africa...
This from the Mail & Guardian: Essentially, it makes more business sense to sail the longer distance – even though the Suez Canal shortens the Europe Asia trade route by at least 9,000 km – and...
View ArticleThe top 20 best countries to invest your money in Africa
This is according to the latest Ernst & Young’s Africa Attractiveness Report (2016). Kenya is ranked 4th. Ahead of Tunisia, Mauritius, and Botswana. You just need to spend a few hours in Nairobi,...
View ArticleEgypt vs Ethiopia: Hydropolitics of the Nile Basin
I just finished reading John Waterbury’s The Nile Basin: National Determinants of Collective Action. The book offers a concise introduction to the politics of international water basins as well as the...
View ArticlePeace is coming to the Horn and beyond
This is from The Economist: …. In a display of unexpected warmth, Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia’s new prime minister, embraced Issaias Afwerki, the ageing Eritrean dictator. In the Eritrean capital, Asmara,...
View ArticleHere’s why African states value their economic and political ties with China
This is from an excellent essay by Lina Benabdallah in Foreign Policy: …. when former U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson raised a cautionary alarm for Africans to be wary of Chinese predatory...
View ArticleDo Gulf States have too much influence in Eastern Africa’s capitals?
That is the question that Michael Woldemariam and Alden Young ask over at Foreign Affairs. Here’s an excerpt: Faced with expanding Iranian influence, the destabilizing precedent of the Arab Spring,...
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The Nile has apparently not changed course in 30 million years
How old is the Nile? … It has been suggested that the Nile in its present path is ~6 million years old, whereas others argue that it may have formed much earlier in geological history. Here we present...
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Some Policy Lessons from COVID-19
It’s has been illuminating watching African governments respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are some lessons I have gleaned from their responses. For those interested, the IMF has a neat summary of...
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How Good Are Datasets on Cropland in African States?
A number of papers (on agricultural productivity, conflict, food security, and impacts of climate change, for example) use cropland cover data as controls. How good are these data? Here’s the abstract...
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How Many People Died Of The 1918 Spanish Flu in Kenya?
This is the abstract and excerpts from Andayi, Chaves, and Widdowson, a paper focusing on the impact of the Spanish flu on coastal Kenya: The 1918 influenza pandemic was the most significant pandemic...
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The Other Nile River
The battle over the waters of the Blue Nile, pitting Ethiopia against Egypt and Sudan, has been all over the news lately. Notably, the debate has focused on the Blue Nile and largely ignored the other...
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