|
As 2017 draws to a close, Africa is taking stock of a remarkable political year. The headline story was the sudden defenestration of Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, but there was plenty else going on. Cameroon, Kenya and Nigeria all saw upsurges in secessionism, with Kenya also re-running an election ruled invalid by its Supreme Court. South Africa, meanwhile, saw its president challenged like never before as the extent of Western corporate meddling in its democracy and economy was exposed. With all this and more to chew on, Nic Cheeseman runs through the year’s lessons and casts an eye towards 2018.
|
A strong judiciary isn’t enough to keep democracy in place. Kenya’s Supreme Court decision nullifying the re-election of Uhuru Kenyatta is a case in point.
Reuters/Baz Ratner
Nic Cheeseman, University of Birmingham
The past 12 months provided further evidence of the danger of democratic backsliding in Africa. But it also saw powerful presidents suffer embarrassing setbacks in a number of countries.
|
Arts + Culture
|
-
M J C Warren, University of Sheffield
Close study of the Bible confirms that it isn't just the Devil who tempts.
|
|
Business + Economy
|
-
John Quiggin, The University of Queensland
Bitcoin has been viewed as a liberating path out of the corporate monetary system. But the process of 'mining' the cryptocurrency is a massive energy drain - and potential environmental disaster.
|
|
Environment + Energy
|
-
Kate O'Neill, University of California, Berkeley
China, which recycles much of the world's waste material, is slashing its scrap imports. This move could force the United States and Europe to boost recycling instead of shipping trash overseas.
|
|
Health + Medicine
|
-
Kambang Sariadji, National Institute of Health Research and Development Ministry of Health Indonesia
An outbreak of diphtheria in Indonesia is not caused by a singular factor. The country needs better vaccination coverage and distribution as well as better antibiotics.
-
Tabitha Mwangi, Anglia Ruskin University
After an exceptional period of success in global malaria control, the progress has stalled. New strategies are needed to suit a variety of transmission patterns.
|
|
Politics + Society
|
-
Frederick Burrill, Concordia University
The current aggressive version of Islamophobia in Québec is unique to the province. We need a critical re-interpretation of our own history to build a Québec freed from our old racist patterns.
-
Dong Jin Kim, Trinity College Dublin
For a brief moment at the turn of the millennium, it seemed Seoul and Pyongyang were starting to open up to each other.
|
|
Science + Technology
|
-
Carina J. Fearnley, UCL; Lourdes López-Merino, Brunel University London; Niamh Downing, Falmouth University; Richard Irvine, The Open University
Make that winter dram an intellectual one.
-
Anthony J Ryan, University of Sheffield
Limitations improve creativity: we think up solutions we would never have thought of in a lab.
|
|
