Bruce Whitehouse at SAIS on Mali’s Elections, the Future of Captain Sanogo, and More

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Amadou Sanogo, Amadou Toumani Touré, Azawad, Bamako, Bruce Whitehouse, democracy in Africa, Mali, Peter Lewis, SAIS, Todd Moss, Tuareg, US military engagement in Mali

Today, I was able to hear the Lehigh anthropologist Bruce Whitehouse speak for the second time since I started blogging.  Dr. Lewis of SAIS’ Africa Studies Program noted in his introduction that he was ‘delighted to welcome’ Dr. Whitehouse.  I second that comment, as I greatly appreciate the nuances, specific info, and multiple perspectives that Dr. Whitehouse brings forward in his speeches as well as on his blog (which is much more sophisticated than mine but rather infrequently updated these days).

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African Perceptions of China and the US – The Missing Fun Factor

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African perceptions of China, Afrobarometer, kristie Inman, national Intelligence university, Peter Lewis, SAIS, Sino - Africa, UC - Davis

Yesterday, I attended a talk on “Determinants of African Perceptions Toward Chinese and American Engagement in Africa: A Hierarchical Approach” at SAIS.  I forgot my camera, so I have no fuzzy pictures of the speaker, Dr. Kristie Inman, to post.  I understand that Dr. Inman recently received her PhD from UC – Davis, in Political Science I believe.  She is currently a research adviser at the Center for Strategic Intelligence Research at the National Intelligence University.

Like almost all public speakers with government affiliations, she gave the standard disclaimer that

‘We Deserve More Kudos for Effort’: Nigeria’s Speaker of the House at SAIS

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Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Bamanga Tukur, Boko Haram, Damaturu, Femi Gbaja Biamila, Maiduguri, Nigeria electricity, Nigerian Politics, Paul Lubeck, PDP Split, Peter Lewis, Sokoto

The Speaker Sandwiched Between SAIS Nigeria Experts Drs. Lubeck & Lewis

Fall is descending upon us, which means that area schools are back in session and the number of Africanist events is increasing (I’m planning to attend my first ever event at Howard, organized by the energetic Winslow Robertson, this Thursday on a Sino – Africa theme). Today, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representative (he represents the northern Sokoto State) and a member of the governing People’s Democratic Party (to which he defected in 2007 I believe) spoke on “Regional Security Challenges and Nigeria’s Future”.  He was accompanied by several other lawmakers who answered their fair share of questions as well (anyone know why they were in town?).

Anti-Federalism, Colonial Nostalgia, and Development in Nigeria: Lagos State Governor at SAIS

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African reaction to Boston bombing, Babatunde Fashola, Lagos, Nigeria, Peter Lewis, SAIS

Babatunde Fashola, Governor of Lagos State, Nigeria, delivered a speech at SAIS yesterday that was notable for its detailed (although somewhat rambling) account of his administration’s successes and challenges as well the issues facing the greater Federal Government of Nigeria.  He was critical of the excessive power of the central government in Abuja and also appeared to revel in nostalgia for the supposedly more orderly Nigeria of his youth in the 1960s, which I understood

SAIS Tackles Democracy in Ghana

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African Institutions, African Political Scientists, Ghana, Ghana elections, IPAC, Peter Lewis, Richard Asante

Richard Asante, a political scientist from the University of Ghana (currently based at Northwestern University) spoke at SAIS today on “Deficit in Social Trust: A Paradox in Ghana’s Democratic Development” (although this differed from the title on his PowerPoint, ‘Informal Institutions, Trust, and Democracy in Ghana’).  In his introductions, Peter Lewis spoke of the significant role that Asante has played in US Africanist convocations in recent years, presenting at the African Studies Association meeting in 2012 and participating in the American Political Science Association’s Africa workshop in 2011.

First some disclaimers, I have briefly worked with Asante (although I don’t know him at all) and I left at the conclusion of his prepared remarks.  Asante spoke from a methodological scientific view point, not going too much into specifics, preferring instead to hammer home concise points to support his theory that democratization in Ghana was not due to luck, but rather the strong role of both formal and particularly informal institutions. 

Monday at SAIS Part I: Nigerian Governance (and Foreign Relations)

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ECOWAS, Ike Nwachukwu, Nigeria, Nigeria foreign policy, Peter Lewis

Ike Nwachukwu, Director General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, discussed ‘Political Prospects and Democratic Challenges in Nigeria’ at SAIS yesterday.  Nwachukwu has had a distinguished career as a general in the Nigerian army, a military governor, later as a democratically elected senator, and at the pinnacle of his career, served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs under the military regime of Ibrahim Babangida.