Condemned to Serve for Life? A Snapshot of Political Trends in Africa

Date: 

Thursday, October 20, 2022, 11:00am to 12:30pm

Location: 

Zoom Webinar

Condemned to Serve for Life

Despite the democratic gains of the last three decades, and despite the Arab Spring and subsequent Sub-Saharan protest movements, authoritarian tendencies have persisted in Africa. With recent events such as the outbreak of conflict and attempted or successful coups d'etat in Eastern and Western Africa, many fear that a large authoritarian counter wave may be on the horizon. This event will address some of these trends and take a deep dive into some of the structural factors and local dynamics behind political developments in Ethiopia, West Africa, and Tunisia.

Gerald L. Neuman, Director of the Human Rights Program (HRP), and the J. Sinclair Armstrong Professor of International, Foreign, and Comparative Law at Harvard Law, will introduce the event. HRP Associate Director Abadir Ibrahim will moderate the discussion.

Joining us as panelists are:

Semir Yusuf specializes in comparative politics and is currently a Senior Researcher and the head of the Ethiopia Project at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).

Lana Salman is a non-resident fellow at the Middle East Initiative at the Belfer Center for Science and the International Affairs Marie Skłodowska Curie postdoctoral fellow at Ghent University, Belgium.

Ibrahima Kane heads the Africa Union Advocacy Program of the Open Society Africa Regional Office and is qualified as a lawyer in Senegal and France.

The event is co-sponsored by the HLS Program on Law and Society in the Muslim World, the Harvard Center for African Studies and the Harvard African Law Association.

Persons with disabilities who wish to request accommodations or who have questions about access, please contact hrp@law.harvard.edu in advance of the session.

Register: https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_7APohNFzRJyiKfgHtX4tCw