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Here a few things African countries taught the world about democracy in 2017. For starters, don’t mess with the military. Secondly, you can get away with murder if you’re polite. And Western countries are part of the continent’s political problems. Nic Cheeseman unpacks these and other lessons after another tumultuous year around Africa.
Throughout its history, Québec has been profoundly shaped and guided by religious authorities. Missionary propaganda was one of the most important ways in which people learned about the broader world well into the 20th century. And many of their missives were vehemently anti-Islam. Frederick Burrill explains how this sense of Muslims as “irrational” has carried into some in modern Quebec’s attitudes to Islam - and to Islamophobia.
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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.
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Islamophobia in Québec has roots that lie within our missionary past and the Christian nature of our society. We need to reinterpret out past in order to move forward and past 20th century racism.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes)
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.
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Environment + Energy
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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.
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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.
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Cities
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Chris Ives, University of Nottingham; Andre Van Eymeren, Swinburne University of Technology
By drawing on common values, faith communities can take a lead in making cities fairer, safer, accessible and affordable for all.
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Politics + Society
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Kanti Pertiwi, Universitas Indonesia
Does corruption means the same for everyone? Some social researchers argue that corruption is a social construct shaped by Western anti-corruption elites.
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Health + Medicine
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Aku Kwamie, University of Ghana
For healthcare to be accessible, affordable and equal, policies and programmes that promote universal health coverage need to be based on evidence.
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