Nigerian President Yar’Adua in Hospital
As the Financial Times reports, President Yar’Adua’s health has been in question before.  It looks like he should be OK this time.  But this raises questions about his potential for re-election and about likely successors.  In many respects Yar’Adua has been just what Nigeria needs–a leader who unites more than he divides.

Climate and conflict
In the lead-up to Copenhagen, it makes sense that climate issues will be linked to all the evil in the world.  Still, the concern about linkages between weather and conflict are not new in African studies.  Ted Miguel’s work has linked rainfall (via the economic shocks associated with it) to conflict in Africa and the murder of witches in Tanzania. Some consider it at the root of the conflict in Darfur.  Still, a number of researchers have pointed out that the link between climat

ASA afterthoughts
Last weekend was the annual meeting of the African Studies Association, held this year in New Orleans.  Despite the awful timing (why would anyone ever choose to have a conference right before Thanksgiving?), I definitely enjoyed it.  It is a great opportunity to get input on one’s own work from disciplines as far afield as history and anthropology.  I find that such feedback can greatly encourage lateral thinking.  For instance, I had the opportunity to go to Stephanie Rupp’s talk on Saturday on Ghanaian attitudes towards China’s increasin

Aid abuse
The BBC reports today how humanitarian aid was used to facilitate military action in the DRC. Doctors without Borders (MSF) is one of the bravest and most savvy of aid organizations.  If they ever choose to leave the region, many will be worse off. clipped from

Highlights from Govt 155, Fall 2009
My students are doing a fantastic job in our current Introduction to International Politics. One of their assignments for the term is to post on the course blog reactions to readings and recent news events, relevant to the course.  Here are links to a few of the highlights so far this semester: On readings: Readings Blog Post – International History, 1900 – 1990