In the wake of the ousting of former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, experts are turning their attention to the broader ramifications across Africa. Jakkie Cilliers is predicting continued turbulence in large part because Africa remains poor and young, but also because it’s growing and dynamic. Yvonne Rowa also warns of a period of prolonged uncertainty, and Mohamed Diatta says the whole crisis reveals the shortcomings of African intergovernmental organisations.
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French President Emmanuel Macron during his visit to French counter-terrorism forces in northern Mali, in May.
EPA/Christophe Petit Tesson
Jakkie Cilliers, University of Pretoria
Some African countries present a facade of democracy. The absence of substantive democracy is contributing to instability on the continent.
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Politics + Society
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Yvonne Rowa, University of Adelaide
By intervening in Zimbabwe's politics the military could plunge the country into a prolonged period of uncertainty. Could President Emmerson Mnangagwa be its saviour?
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Mohamed M Diatta, Sciences Po – USPC
The political crisis in Zimbabwe reveals the shortcomings of African intergovernmental organisations and their (in)capacity to guarantee democratic functioning in the member states.
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Mia Swart, University of Johannesburg
It's still unclear whether Zimbabwe will manage an effective transition to participatory democracy and freedom. And the current signs are not encouraging.
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Beverley Milton-Edwards, Queen's University Belfast
Much of Sinai is almost beyond Egyptian state control altogether.
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Wes Mountain, The Conversation
Raffaello Pantucci explains what lone-actor terrorism is, why it's effective and why we seem to be seeing more attacks that aren't clearly connected to terror networks in this long-form comic explainer.
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Science + Technology
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David Beirman, University of Technology Sydney
Until late November, Bali's high economic dependence on tourism led its Tourism Board to dismiss the dangers of the Mount Agung volcano. This severely undermined the reputation of destination Bali..
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Richard John Arculus, Australian National University
'Volcano forensics' involves a mixture of modern day monitoring and analysis of past eruptions. Geologists use volcanic rocks as a kind of time capsule to assess what happened previously.
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