|
The private security industry has grown exponentially in Africa, so much so that private security officers sometimes outnumber the police. As Julie Berg writes, this begs the question of what policing actually means on the continent. But she cautions against simplistic notions that private security companies are all bad, or that state police forces always act in the best interests of citizens.
The fact that humans’ ancestors emerged from Africa is borne out by a huge fossil record - but that doesn’t mean scientists have stopped searching for evidence of alternative theories. Julien Benoit explains why this kind of research - which has failed to weaken the African root of human evolutionary theory - is actually important for science.
|
Private security guards secure Uber offices in Parktown, a suburb of Johannesburg. Its drivers are constantly under attack.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
Julie Berg, University of Cape Town
The future of private security is beset by many challenges and what forms of regulation would be required to align it with the public interest.
|
Science + Technology
|
-
Julien Benoit, University of the Witwatersrand
Recent research suggests that humankind's origins lay outside of Africa. This is the nature of science: a paradigm that cannot be questioned on a regular basis becomes a dogma.
|
|
Environment + Energy
|
-
Sheryl L Hendriks, University of Pretoria; Katrin Glatzel, The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) ; Ousmane Badiane, The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Policy choices made by Senegal, Ghana, Rwanda, Angola, Cameroon, Ethiopia and Togo over the past 15 years have led to significant reductions in child undernourishment.
|
|
Education
|
-
Gideon Nomdo, University of Cape Town
Students experience intense feelings of discomfort, confusion and even embarrassment at being classified as “different” and an “anomaly” alongside the norm of white academic success.
|
|
From our international editions
|
-
Scott Shackelford, Indiana University
The US could help solve a global security problem and boost its image abroad by helping willing experts share their cybersecurity knowledge around the country and the globe.
-
Kanta Dihal, University of Oxford
Both systems are dangerous in the wrong hands.
-
Nadira Faber, University of Oxford
Why working with friends – or making better friends with colleagues – is beneficial.
-
Regina Hansen, Boston University
This Oct. 31, many in the U.S. will celebrate Halloween. The origins of this tradition go back to Celtic and later Christian traditions.
|
|
