Anarchy would seem to be the enemy of autocracy. After all, anarchy implies a lack of control where autocracy embodies control. Nonetheless, the most skilled tyrants know that there are times when unleashing the forces of chaos is a marvelous tool in their arsenal. Anarchy allows for police crackdowns, it allows for score settling, it […]
For all of the talk about China and its potentially deleterious impact on Africa, there is another potential player in African affairs from the east. India may well provide a useful foil to China, and perhaps even will present a somewhat less predatory visage. Having a diversity of options can only help African leaders to […]
Tempered optimism may have dominated the news cycle with regard to Zimbabwe for a couple of days, as supporters of the opposition have basked in the prospects of something even “sweeter than a miracle.” But might grim reality be setting in? Never mind that even if all goes well and the opposition emerges fully victorious […]
[Crossposted from a much longer post on the Zimbabwe situation at the FPA Africa Blog.] While South Africa maintains its wary silence on the elections, the ANC has issued a predictable and unexceptional statement asking Zimbabweans of all parties to respect the results, however they turn out. One hopes this boilerplate does not ask Zimbabweans to respect […]
So, what do we know today about the crisis in Zim? Well, rumors swirl more freely than facts, and so what we actually know, as opposed to what we can project, is relatively limited. We know that we all are still waiting for something resembling real election results, that barring shenenigans on Mugabe's part, he […]
Lest we forget, in the one-crisis-at-a-time media mindset that tends to prevail, especially in the West (and I know I’ve been pretty myopic lately, but I’m one man, not an entire newspaper!) Kenya is not out of the woods yet. The major players are squabbling anew, this time over the composition and size of the country's […]
South Africa's premiere political cartoonist, Zapiro (who received an honorary doctorate recently at Rhodes University, one of my old stomping grounds) has been on the Mugabe beat in recent days. Here are some samples: From 2 April: From 1 April: From 28 March: And a classic, from March 2005, republished 27 March, 2008:
If you’ll pardon the self indulgence, we all probably could use a bit of a respite from the constant focus on Zimbabwe, important as events there are. The Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA) has published my review of Robert O’ Collins’ and James N. Burns’ new book, A History […]
Across Africa, and indeed the world, all eyes are on Zimbabwe. That includes mine, as I’ve been writing extensively about the election at the FPA's Africa Blog. If it is possible to be both optimistic and cynical, that probably sums up the tone of my coverage.
Tea leaves are everywhere to be read in Zimbabwe. It appears that Robert Mugabe has lost the House of Assembly, the one area of the vote over which he had the least control. So what does this defeat mean for Mugabe? Will it provide more impetus for him to continue to find a way out while […]
Is it possible that endgame is approaching in Zimbabwe, and that as a result Robert Mugabe will try to find a face-saving measure to allow him to step down and Morgan Tsvangirai to take his place as Zimbabwe's president? This is a story that will continue to develop and I plan to follow it over the […]
Should a government have any role whatsoever in regulating journalism? That is the central question in the emerging debate about the African National Congress’ prospective establishment of a “Media Appeals Tribunal.” My initial reaction is that government is best removed from the business of regulating or challenging or facilitating its critics. This is especially the case when the […]
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