No Spring in Africa: How Sub-Saharan Africa Has Avoided the Arab Spring Phenomenon

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 754-784
Author(s):  
Osman Antwi-Boateng
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Arab Spring

THE AFTERMATH OF THE ARAB SPRING AND ITS IMPLICATION FOR PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE SAHEL AND SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathaniel D Danjibo
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Political Instability ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Political Uncertainty ◽  
Subsaharan Africa ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Peace And Development ◽  
Armed Actors

The Arab Spring, which brought an end to the authoritarian regimes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, was greeted with so much expectation, especially as it gave hope for the expansion of democracy. Unfortunately, however, the Arab Spring has only helped to bring about a period of political uncertainty in the affected countries and created the opportunity for political instability in the Sahel and Sub-Saharan Africa. The fragility of states in Africa with the attendant governance deficits have also created the platform for non-state armed actors to penetrate the Sahel and Sub-Saharan Africa, which ultimately impacts negatively on the region. This study, therefore, seeks to investigate the implication of the Arab Spring for peace and development in the Sahel and SubSaharan Africa.

Islamism in Mauritania and the narrative of political moderation

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Cavatorta ◽  
Raquel Ojeda Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Historically Situated ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Arab Spring

ABSTRACTThe rise of Islamism following the Arab Spring has renewed interest in the democratic credibility of Islamist parties and movements. Focusing on the case of Mauritania's Islamists this article analyses the validity of the moderation hypothesis and argues that for some Islamist parties, moderation, when historically situated, has always been a key trait. The case of Mauritanian Islamism is interesting because it takes place within an intellectual and geographical place that straddles both the Arab world and sub-Saharan Africa, therefore providing insights on how Islamism has become an influential ideological framework in both worlds, that are much less separate than superficially believed.

scholarly journals Closing the Arab Democratic Gap: A Re-Assessment of the Tunisian Democratic Transition

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yolaine Frossard de Saugy
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Islam And Politics ◽  
Political Bargaining ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The One ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Religion And Democracy

Tunisia is often described as the outlier of the Arab Spring, the one case in which a form of political transition decidedly happened. The fact that this transition first led to the rule of the Islamist party Ennahda has reignited long-standing debates on the role of Islam in politics, the relationship between religion and democracy, and the consequences of their potential incompatibility for the future of Tunisian democracy. A sizeable literature has attempted to address these topics over the years, but it is of little help when trying to understand the events of the Arab Spring and the Tunisian transition, especially when it comes to their impact on the Islamist parties themselves. Borrowing from Villalón’s study of Islam and politics in sub-Saharan Africa, this paper argues that, instead of considering whether Tunisian actors fit within a preconceived notion of democracy, we should consider the process of political bargaining itself as democratic; focusing on the substance of democracy rather than its form sheds new light on the Tunisian case and helps explain various outcomes including the progressive liberalization of Islamist parties and the gradual but distinctive flourishing of democracy in the Tunisian context.

Arab Spring and its echo in sub-Saharan Africa: a quantitative analysis

2019 ◽  
pp. 17-24
Author(s):  
A. Korotayev ◽  
◽  
K. Meshcherina ◽  
V. Katkova ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Sub Saharan

Social Media as Disruptive Technologies in an Era of Fake News

2020 ◽  
pp. 250-274
Author(s):  
Osée Kamga
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
The Political ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Transformative Power ◽  
Silent Majority ◽  
Disruptive Technologies ◽  
The People ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Arab Spring

Since the Arab Spring (2010-2012), there has been a growing interest in the transformative power of social media, with a number of studies looking at its power to mobilize hitherto silent majority of the people, its ability to spread information at a lightning speed or to shape government-citizen relationship. This chapter is part of that trend, and it focuses specifically on Sub-Saharan Africa. It borrows Christensen's concept of “disruptive technologies” and uses it as a framework to analyze the processes of social media appropriation in the political field in that part of the continent. The chapter articulates ways in which social media are transforming the political landscape in the region and wonders about the outcome of these processes in the backdrop of the emerging and spreading of fake news.

Jihadism Transformed

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
South Asia ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
The Past ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
Ultimate Failure ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Arab Spring

Jihadist narratives have evolved dramatically over the past five years, driven by momentous events in the Middle East and beyond; the death of bin Laden; the rise and ultimate failure of the Arab Spring; and most notably, the rise of the so-called Islamic State. For many years, Al-Qaeda pointed to an aspirational future Caliphate as their utopian end goal - one which allowed them to justify their violent excesses in the here and now. Islamic State turned that aspiration into a dystopic reality, and in the process hijacked the jihadist narrative, breathing new life into the global Salafi-Jihadi movement. Despite air-strikes from above, and local disillusionment from below, the new caliphate has stubbornly persisted and has been at the heart of ISIS's growing global appeal. This timely collection of essays examines how jihadist narratives have changed globally, adapting to these turbulent circumstances. Area and thematic specialists consider transitions inside the Middle East and North Africa as well as in South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. As these analyses demonstrate, the success of the ISIS narrative has been as much about resonance with local contexts, as it has been about the appeal of the global idea of a tangible and realized caliphate.

scholarly journals Religious Dimensions of Democratization Processes in Muslim-Majority Nations

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 140-144
Author(s):  
Celene Ayat Lizzio
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Annual Conference ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Religious Dimensions ◽  
Divinity School ◽  
Muslim Majority ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Arab Spring

The 41st AMSS annual conference, held on 29 September 2012 at Yale DivinitySchool, brought together scholars and activists to address “ReligiousDimensions of Democratization Processes in Muslim-Majority Nations.” Theevent, consisting of four panels and Juan R. I. Cole’s (University of Michigan)very anticipated keynote luncheon address, was co-sponsored by the Yale DivinitySchool and the Council on Middle East Studies at The MacMillian Centerat Yale. Several luminaries in the field, including Ambassador SallamaShaker (conference program chair, Yale Divinity School), also attended. GregoryE. Sterling (dean, Yale Divinity School) opened the conference, and AliA.Mazrui (former AMSS president, State University of New York) made welcomingremarks.The first panel, “The Arab Spring: A Revolution towards Democracy,”was chaired by Narges Erami (Yale University). In his opening paper, “TheArab Spring and Democratization in Sub-Saharan Africa: Which Is Cause andWhich Is Effect?,” Mazuri examined political processes, recent uprisings, andlonger-term democratic trends in South Africa, Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, andYemen. He raised questions of chronology and causality, as well as howprocesses of colonialism and decolonization shaped contemporary politicallandscapes. After examining the concept of democratic contagion, he observedhow democratic processes that occurred in many African nations during thetwentieth century could serve as models for how to enshrine human rights andan independent judiciary in new constitutions. His paper ended with a detaileddiscussion of women’s contributions to shaping and buttressing a vibrant publicsphere, the positive effects of which can be seen particularly strongly inTunisia ...

Social Media as Disruptive Technologies in an Era of Fake News

2021 ◽  
pp. 297-315
Author(s):  
Osée Kamga
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
The Political ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Transformative Power ◽  
Silent Majority ◽  
Disruptive Technologies ◽  
The People ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Arab Spring

Since the Arab Spring (2010-2012), there has been a growing interest in the transformative power of social media, with a number of studies looking at its power to mobilize hitherto silent majority of the people, its ability to spread information at a lightning speed or to shape government-citizen relationship. This chapter is part of that trend, and it focuses specifically on Sub-Saharan Africa. It borrows Christensen's concept of “disruptive technologies” and uses it as a framework to analyze the processes of social media appropriation in the political field in that part of the continent. The chapter articulates ways in which social media are transforming the political landscape in the region and wonders about the outcome of these processes in the backdrop of the emerging and spreading of fake news.

‘King of Kings of Africa’

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-224
Author(s):  
Christiane Gruber
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Public Domain ◽  
African Unity ◽  
Ethnic Stereotypes ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Arab Spring

Abstract During the 2011 uprisings, artists and cultural agents unleashed biting pictorial forms of ridicule in Libya’s public domain. Their chief target was Muʿammar Qaddafi, the ‘Brother Leader’ of the Libyan Arab Republic and the so-called ‘King of Kings of Africa’. After failing to win support from Arab governments, Qaddafi campaigned for African unity, fashioning himself as a traditional sub-Saharan chief during the decade leading up to the ‘Arab Spring’. His bombastic African title, his Afro-like (shafshufa) hairstyle and his eye-catching robes made him an easy target for visual satire, which turned visibly more racist when he and his son, Sayf al-Islam, resorted to using mercenaries from the Sudan, Chad, Niger and Mali to violently suppress street demonstrations. Throughout the uprisings, anti-government actors sought to degrade Qaddafi through the use of ethnic stereotypes, revealing that, in the particular case of Libya, satirical contentions during the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ were not just transgressive and factional, but instrumentally racist as well.

RTS,S/AS01, a vaccine targeting pre-erythrocytic stages of Plasmodium falciparum

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (6) ◽  
pp. 533-537
Author(s):  
Lorenz von Seidlein ◽  
Borimas Hanboonkunupakarn ◽  
Podjanee Jittmala ◽  
Sasithon Pukrittayakamee
Keyword(s):  
Protective Efficacy ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Phase Iii ◽  
European Medicines Agency ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Pivotal Phase ◽  
Malaria Epidemiology ◽  
Maximum Benefit ◽  
Sub Saharan

RTS,S/AS01 is the most advanced vaccine to prevent malaria. It is safe and moderately effective. A large pivotal phase III trial in over 15 000 young children in sub-Saharan Africa completed in 2014 showed that the vaccine could protect around one-third of children (aged 5–17 months) and one-fourth of infants (aged 6–12 weeks) from uncomplicated falciparum malaria. The European Medicines Agency approved licensing and programmatic roll-out of the RTSS vaccine in malaria endemic countries in sub-Saharan Africa. WHO is planning further studies in a large Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme, in more than 400 000 young African children. With the changing malaria epidemiology in Africa resulting in older children at risk, alternative modes of employment are under evaluation, for example the use of RTS,S/AS01 in older children as part of seasonal malaria prophylaxis. Another strategy is combining mass drug administrations with mass vaccine campaigns for all age groups in regional malaria elimination campaigns. A phase II trial is ongoing to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of the RTSS in combination with antimalarial drugs in Thailand. Such novel approaches aim to extract the maximum benefit from the well-documented, short-lasting protective efficacy of RTS,S/AS01.

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