Editor's note

It’s been an eventful year for democracy in Africa. It saw the overthrow of two long-time dictators, President Omar al Bashir of Sudan and Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, following prolonged popular protests. Here is a selection of essential reading on the subject. Nic Cheeseman outlines how colonialism predisposed Africa to fragile authoritarianism while Steven Friedman shows that democracy doesn’t fare better in the West than in Africa. You can find additional articles on the topic here.

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Caroline Southey

Editor

Top story

The French National Assembly, one of the Western institutions Western academics believe African countries should aspire to. EPA-EFE/Yoan Valat

The claim that democracy fares better in the West than in Africa is a fallacy

Steven Friedman, University of Johannesburg

The argument isn't whether African democracies are better than those in the West. It's simply that the idea of "real" and "not yet real" democracies expresses a colonial mentality, not reality.

Zambian President Edgar Lungu’s increasingly repressive government uses colonial-era laws to silence dissent. EFE-EPA/ EPA/Phillipe Wojazer

How colonial rule predisposed Africa to fragile authoritarianism

Nic Cheeseman, University of Birmingham; Jonathan Fisher, University of Birmingham

The unstable authoritarian pathway that many post-colonial African states followed was facilitated by the way in which European empires undermined democratic elements within African societies.

Politics + Society

Mexico: after a year in power, Andrés Manuel López Obrador is failing to contain violence

Patricio R. Estévez-Soto, UCL

AMLO's war against organised crime in Mexico isn't stopping people dying.

Photographs reveal the personal lives of the Lord’s Resistance Army

Kristof Titeca, University of Antwerp

Photographs give unprecedented insight into the lives and humanity of those involved in the Ugandan rebel movement.

Arts + Culture

Indonesian cave paintings show the dawn of imaginative art and human spiritual belief

Adam Brumm, Griffith University; Adhi Oktaviana, Griffith University; Maxime Aubert, Griffith University

A recent cave art discovery in remote Indonesia is changing our understanding of the beginnings of art and the emergence of religious-like thinking in the early human story.

Music collectors seek out rare albums not available on streaming

Marina Eckersley, University of Toronto

Desperate fans may have to settle on paying exorbitant amounts for a cassette tape.

En français

Le jour où l’Inde a fermé ses portes aux musulmans

Anthony Goreau-Ponceaud, Université de Bordeaux

Un projet d’amendement constitutionnel de la loi sur la citoyenneté vise à empêcher les étrangers musulmans d’accéder à la nationalité indienne. C’est une négation de la diversité religieuse du pays.

Les contours de la philosophie du langage et de l’esprit

François Recanati, École normale supérieure (ENS)

La philosophie du langage et de l’esprit cherche à appréhender notre compréhension du monde par son internalisation dans la pensée, par sa représentation mentale.