POL 240
Politics of Africa
Syllabus
Spring Semester 2013 version 3.1 (updated March 12)
Dr. Ken Menkhaus
Davidson College
Office: Chambers 2031
(704) 894-2291
kemenkhaus@davidson.edu
Chambers 2164
T-Th 8:15-9:30
Contemporary Africa is a study in contrasts. On the one hand, it is the epicenter of what
development experts call the “bottom billion” – the poorest populations on Earth. Many of its
states fall at or near the bottom of the UN’s Human Development Index, and feature higher
levels of infant mortality, illiteracy, and malnutrition than other regions of the world. Africa is
also the site of some of the world’s most intractable armed conflicts, instances of state failure,
and problems of corruption and ethno-politics. Yet much of Africa has seen dramatic
improvements in economic growth rates, democracy, and peace-building over the past decade.
Some of the negative perceptions of Africa that remain in currency are reflections of “residual
thinking” about an Africa that is changing rapidly and no longer resembles its recent past.
This class will explore both the positive trends and the many unresolved crises across
contemporary Africa. The objective is to hone your analytic skills at diagnosis (i.e., accurately
identifying the underlying and precipitating causes of Africa’s crises) and your problem-solving
skills (by drawing out lessons learned from local and international efforts to manage and resolve
these crises), while deepening your substantive knowledge of Africa through extensive
exploration of country case studies. Because Africa is home to 54 sovereign states – 28% of the
193 member-states in the United Nations – no student of comparative politics can afford to be
ignorant of the political dynamics that define the continent.
Course requirements:
mini-review #1
review #2
final exam
research paper
book review #1
book review #2
participation:
10%
20%
20%
20%
10%
10%
10%
Review #1 is a short exam held early in the semester. Review #2 is an in-class exam
with a take home component. The final exam is self-scheduled during final exam week. A short
study guide will be provided prior to all tests. The final is not cumulative.
The participation component of the grade is based on active class participation. Quality of
input is more valuable than quantity – a good question is as good as a good observation. Students
are expected to arrive in class having read and carefully considered required reading.
Each student is required to produce a short research paper. Details on this assignment are
provided in an appendix to the syllabus.
Finally, students are required to produce book reviews of Stearns’ Dancing in the Glory
of Monsters and Pierre Englebert’s Africa: Unity, Sovereignty, and Sorrow. Details on those
assignments are provided in the appendix.
Several events may be scheduled outside of class time which you are expected to attend.
We may secure an expert on African issues as a speaker on campus. In addition, a number of
films on Africa will be shown throughout the semester. If you cannot attend the viewings, you
must make alternative arrangements to view them.
Final grades are based on the following formula:
A 93-100
A- 90-92
B+ 87-89
B 83-86
and so on.
Books:
1. Chinua Achebe, A Man of the People (Doubleday Anchor)
2. Pierre Englebert, Africa: Unity, Sovereignty, and Sorrow (Lynne Rienner, 2009)
3. Julie Flint and Alex de Waal, Darfur: A Short History of a Long War (Zed, 2005)
4. Jason Stearns, Dancing in the Glory of Monsters (Public Affairs, 2012)
Most of the required reading will consist of articles, chapters, and reports available on
moodle. In some cases I will email you attachments with required reading. Occasionally power
point will be used in class to provide students with access to graphs, maps, and photos. When
appropriate, these will be forwarded to students as email attachments or made available on
moodle.
You will also be required to stay abreast of current events on Africa. We will use the
following core news sources; monitor them prior to each class:
 BBC website. The British Broadcasting Corporation is arguably the most high-quality
source of news in the world, and it does an especially good job of covering Africa.
Follow news from Africa at www.bbc.co.uk and click “Africa” on the left-side menu.
 All-Africa News Group http://allafrica.com/ This is the largest source of news on Africa
on the web, posting over 700 stories per day from a wide range of sources. It tends to run
stories a day or two late.
 The New York Times. You are asked to read the NYT daily, as part of being a member of
the informed public. Discount subscriptions for the semester are available at the
bookstore; or, for a fee, you can monitor the NYT on-line at www.nytimes.com. On the
left-side menu, click “international,” then click “Africa.” The Times does not cover
Africa as intensively as these other sources, but often runs important feature stories and
covers US policy in Africa.
Office Hours:
Monday:
9:00-10:00
Tuesday:
3:00-4:00
Wednesday: 10:00-11:00
Thursday:
3:00-4:00
Friday:
9:00-10:00
I suggest that you schedule meetings with me in advance – drop-ins during office hours
are welcome but may face a queue. I will place an appointment schedule on my office door if
you wish to secure a fixed appointment. Brief queries can also be handled via email.
Food:
It wouldn’t be right to study the politics of Africa without tasting some of the food the continent
has to offer. We’ll meet for dinner over Ethiopian food this semester.
Miscellaneous course policies:
Honor code. The Honor Code is of course in effect at all times. Please be especially careful not
to plagiarize. When in doubt, consult me. Do not jeopardize your academic career through
careless or intentionally inadequate footnoting.
Accommodations for religious observances. Should a class obligation conflict with a faith
observation, students are encouraged to seek alternative arrangements with me.
Accommodations for students with disabilities. Full accommodations are the legal right of
students with learning and physical disabilities. If you are a student with a learning disability
documented by Davidson College who might need accommodations, please identify yourself to
me within the first week or two of class, so that I can learn from you as early as possible how to
best work with your learning style. If I do not hear directly from you I will presume you are not
seeking any accommodations and will structure exams and assignments accordingly.
Attendance policy. I will not take attendance for each and every class session – it takes up too
much time. And I do not have a fixed formula for the number of acceptable unexcused absences
over the course of the semester. However, students who have a high number of absences will be
penalized in their participation grade for the course, on the grounds that your absences prevent
you from participating.
Late papers/late take-home reviews. Work turned in late is not acceptable and will receive a
half letter grade (or 5 pt.) penalty for each day past the due date. Excused delays on assignments
will only be considered for emergency cases – a death in the family, a severe illness, etc. Excuses
based on illness or events occurring within 24 hours of the due date will not be accepted if the
student cannot provide evidence of significant progress on the incomplete assignment.
Computer-related excuses are not accepted – please save your work often and on a thumb drive
or CD as well as hard drive. Print a hard copy of partially completed drafts too.
Communications. E-mail queries are welcome for issues which do not merit an office visit.
Please allow 12-24 hours for a response. Use this wonderful tool of communication judiciously –
random questions sent at 3:00am create unnecessary back-logs of email. Please use polite and
appropriate style and tone in emails.
Syllabus adjustments. I reserve the right to adjust the syllabus to account for new emerging
topics, speakers, and unforeseen travel obligations. I occasionally am asked at short notice to
participate in policy meetings in DC or elsewhere that might require a bit of creative
rescheduling on our part. I thank you in advance for your flexibility! In all cases, I will try to
give as much advance notice as possible to you and provide you with an updated syllabus.
Course Schedule
Part I: Africa: Peoples, Land, Culture, and History
Tues, Jan.15: (1) Introduction to the course;
(2) Introduction to African studies;
(3) Africa: The land, peoples, cultures
Read: Bohanan and Curtin, Africa and Africans, ch. 1-3 (sent as email attachment to class
Monday Jan 14)
Evening Film: 7:00-8:00pm, Ali Mazrui’s The Africans part 1 (note: if you are unable to attend
you must make arrangements to view the film privately – it can be accessed at the college
library)
Th, Jan. 17: Key themes in African history
Read: Shillington, History of Africa (excerpts);
Map quiz – know all of the countries of Africa, the names of their capital cities, the main rivers,
and the main geographic sites (I’ll provide a study guide list and map). This is worth 10% of
your review #1 grade.
Tues, Jan. 22: (1) Colonialism’s legacy;
(2) Decolonization;
(3) The rise of African nationalisms
Read: Iliffe, Africans: The History of a Continent (excerpts); Hochschild, King Leopold’s Ghost,
(excerpts)
Th, Jan. 24: (1) First years of independence: promises and expectations;
(2) The rise of patronage politics
Read: Chinua Achebe, A Man of the People
Tues, Jan. 29: (1) (35 minutes) The Cold War’s legacy in Africa
(2) (40 minutes) mini-review #1
Th, Jan. 31:
(1) Crises of the first decades of independence;
(2) The end of the Cold War
Lecture only
Part II: Contemporary Challenges and Developments in Africa
(Note: in this section of the class we conduct a quick survey of some of the most important
political, social, and economic issues in contemporary Africa. Each class session will be devoted
to two or three of these topics. We will revisit all of them when we explore case studies in the
next section of the class)
Tues, Feb. 5: (1) State weakness and failure;
(2) Sovereignty and secessionism
Read: Englebert, Africa: Unity, Sovereignty, and Sorrow, all
Book review #1 (Englebert) due in class
Th, Feb 7:
(1) Civil wars and insurgencies
Read: Menkhaus, “A ‘Sudden Outbreak of Tranquility:’ Assessing the New Peace in Africa.”
Fletcher Forum of World Affairs (May 2004); David Keen, “Incentives and Disincentives for
Violence” (2000); Paul Collier, The Bottom Billion, ch 2 “The Conflict Trap” (2007).
Tues, Feb. 12: (1) Struggles over land and resources
(2) Oil: Blessing or curse?
(3) New external actors and interests: China’s petro-diplomacy, US counterterrorism
Read: Catherine Boone, “Conflict over Property Rights in Land in Africa’s Liberalized Political
Economies” (2009); Shaxson, Poisoned Wells: The Dirty Politics of African Oil (2008),
excerpts; Council on Foreign Relations, “Expanding China-Africa Oil Ties,” (2012) at
http://www.cfr.org/china/expanding-china-africa-oil-ties/p9557 ;
Th, Feb 14:
(1) External interventions; the UN and African Union
(2) Post-conflict challenges: transitional governments, unity governments,
constitutions, and transitional justice
(3) Debates over foreign aid and Africa
Read: Mehler, “Peace and Power-Sharing in Africa: A Not So Obvious Relationship” (2009);
Dambisa Moyo, Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How There is a Better Way for Africa,
excerpts; The Economist, “External Interventions in Africa news stories” and short video, “UN
Peacekeepers in Africa: Helping to Calm a Continent” at
http://www.economist.com/blogs/newsbook/2012/06/un-peacekeepers-africa
Tues, Feb 19: (1) Challenges of democratization
(2) Ethno-politics
(3) Electoral violence
(4) Decentralization and devolution
Read: Van der Walle, “Africa’s Range of Regimes” (2002); Smith, “Voting for an Ethnic
Identity,” (2007) (read up to page 272); USAID, “Comparative Assessment of Decentralization
in Africa” (2010) (read up to p. 22).
Th, Feb 21: Guest lecture. Amb. Haywood Rankin, “Arab-Sub-Saharan African Tensions in the
Sahel”
Tues, Feb 26: Dr. Menkhaus Trip Report: Briefing on state of ONLF-Government of Ethiopia
talks
lecture only
Th, Feb 28: Review #2
March 2-10 – Spring Break
Tues, March 12: (1) Development challenges and successes
(2) Food security
(3) The private sector in Africa
(4) Authoritarian developmental states
(5) Radicalization in Africa
Read: The Economist “Africa Rising” articles (2011); Sieff, The African Lions (2011); UNDP,
“Africa Human Development Report 2012: Food Security” (summary)
Part III: Case studies
Th, March 14: Somalia 1988-2006
Read: Menkhaus, “Governance without Government in Somalia: Spoilers, State Building, and
the Politics of Coping,” International Security (Winter 2006/07);
research topic proposal due in class
Tues, March 19: Somalia 2006 to today
Read: The Guardian, audio slide show, “Life in Somalia’s Capital” (2012)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/video/2012/feb/21/life-in-mogadishu-somaliaaudio-slideshow ; Menkhaus, “Somalia at the Tipping Point?” Current History (May 2012);
Menkhaus “The Somali Spring.” ForeignPolicy.com (26 September 2012) at
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/09/24/the_somali_spring ; Menkhaus, “Stabilisation
and Humanitarian Access in a Collapsed State: The Somali Case.” Disasters
(October 2010).
Wed. March 23 7:00-8:00pm watch: “Ghosts of Rwanda.” classroom TBA
Th, March 21: Rwanda
Tues, March 26: The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
Read: Stearns, Dancing in the Glory of Monsters, all
Book review due in class
Wednesday March 27, 7:00-8:00pm, film. “On Our Watch (Darfur).”
Th, March 28: South Sudan
Reading: South Sudan readings (TBA)
Tuesday, April 2: Easter Break
Th, April 4: Darfur
Read: Flint and De Waal, Darfur: A Short History of a Long War, all
Tues, April 9: no class – Dr. Menkhaus at workshop
Th, April 11: (1) Dr. Menkhaus trip report: “The Geo-economics of Resources and Conflict in
Africa,” based on workshop in Bahrain
(2) Nigeria
Read: TBA
Tues, April 16: Ethiopia
Read: Lyons, “Ethiopia: Assessing Risk to Stability” (2011); Epstein, Cruel Ethiopia” (2010).
Th, April 18: Kenya
Read: TBA
Part IV: The South Africa Drama
Tues, April 23: South African history and peoples; Gold and diamonds, color and class
Read: Callinicos, Gold and Workers, excerpts
Th, April 28: Apartheid
Read: Lelyveld, Move Your Shadow, excerpts
Tues, April 30: The anti-apartheid movement
Read: TBA
Th, May 2: The end of apartheid
Lecture only
Research paper due in class
Tues, May 7: South African politics today; course evaluations
Read:
Wed, May 9: Reading day
May 10-15 final exam week (seniors must complete exams by Monday May 13 5:15pm)
POL 240
Spring 2013
Appendix A
Book review guidelines
The two book reviews assigned in this course are worth 10% each.
The Englebert review is due in class Tuesday Feb 5; the Stearns book review is due in class
March 21.
The reviews must not exceed two double-spaced pages.
References to specific quotes or lines in the book may be footnoted with a simple parenthetical
citation such as this (p. 34).
The review should set out to achieve the following:



provide a clear, precise summary of the book’s main theses in a way that someone who
has not read the book would be able to understand (envision your roommate as the reader,
not me)
place the book and its research question in context and note the significance of the
question being asked (so the reader is not only told what the book’s main point is but why
it matters) (example: for a book on democratization in Africa, one could include in the
review an opening like: “The wave of democratization which took place in Africa in the
early 1990s appeared to transform politics across the continent and put an end to
authoritarianism. But did it really? Smith’s book ‘Democratic Trends in Africa’ looks
beyond the holding of elections in Africa to explore what really changed and what has
remained constant in African political practices over the past four decades.”)
assess and critique the book. Don’t just provide a descriptive summary! What does
‘critique’ mean? It is not necessarily a criticism of the book; a critique can be a glowing
review. It must assess the book, explaining why your assessment of the book is either
positive or negative. Some considerations that may be useful in a book review include:
 relevance of the research question (the “who cares?” question)
 sophistication of the research question – it is asking a new question, or
approaching it in a new way?
 methodology – is it drawing on case studies, quantitative evidence,
anecdotes; and is this the best method for the question at hand?
 breadth of evidence: would the author have benefited from looking at
alternative cases?
 clarity – does the author do a good job of explaining his or her claims? Is
the language accessible? Who is the intended audience, specialists or
general readers?

 bias – does the author appear to have an agenda that predetermines the
findings on the book? does that appear in the form of case section bias?
 balance – does the author give a fair look at alternative explanations of the
question at hand?
 long-term significance – will the book stand the test of time and become a
classic, still relevant 20 years from now, or it is highly perishable and
topical?
Finally, your review should set out to be an enjoyable read. Good book reviews are
stylish, thoughtful, well-crafted, and provocative pieces that are often more fun to read
than the book itself. Don’t submit a boring, plodding book review! (that is not license to
use inappropriately colloquial language or make unfair, ‘straw man’ arguments, though).
Appendix B
The POL 240 research paper assignment
Your assignment for the short research paper is to take a question or claim that you find
interesting derived from any of our class readings (including current news items if you find
something interesting) and test it against a case study or set of cases in Africa. The goal of your
paper is to test the claims made in your assigned reading with the aim of confirming it,
modifying it, or challenging it. This is best done by selecting a specific case study or by testing it
against more recent evidence across parts of all of Africa.
There are hundreds and hundreds of opportunities to do this, all of which qualify as “original
research” since you are testing a claim against a new set of evidence (spoiler alert: the real
pedagogical goal of this exercise is to introduce you to the ease of doing original, and potentially
publishable, research). Some examples:
1. Englebert claims separatist movements are surprisingly rare in Africa, despite conducive
conditions. Test that claim made in 2007 against more recent evidence in Africa (either
against a specific case, like the Mombasa Republic Council in Kenya, or more broadly in
Africa). If his claim is partially challenged by new evidence, why is this? explore
possible explanations for the rise of new separatist movements.
2. Englebert describes failed states in Africa as a condition which elites have adapted to and
exploited; it is not a problem to be solved, but a durable system of resource appropriation.
It is a pessimistic portrait that sees African as “locked” in a trap of failed government,
corruption, and poverty. But is this true in all cases? Test his thesis against a country
with relatively strong government capacity (Rwanda, Ethiopia) and explore why these
countries appear to be the exception to the rule.
3. Keen argues that Africa’s “new wars” are fought not to win but to create conditions of
“durable disorder” within which armed groups plunder. Test this claim against a case
where a civil war has ended, such as Liberia or Angola or Sierra Leone. If warring parties
do not want to win, why have some wars ended?
The short research paper is worth 20% of the grade and is due in class on May 2. The body of the
paper (not counting cover sheet, bibliography, etc) should be roughly 2500 words (8-10 pages in
length, double-spaced); I am flexible on length of paper up to a point, but do not hand in a paper
considerably over this limit, please. It must be based on thorough research of all appropriate
sources (see Appendix D). Each paper must also include an executive summary at the beginning
of the paper, typically ½ page in length, in bullet points, summarizing the main findings of the
paper.
Evaluation:
Evaluation of the paper will be based on a combination of the following:

thoroughness and depth of research (25%). You should be drawing on and citing a wide
range of the very best, most reliable and up-to-date sources (see Appendix D). Underresearched papers are painfully obvious to readers. Be sure to begin your research early,
and to pursue sources aggressively. A pointer: simply using the computer search engine
in the library to locate articles is a HUGE mistake, as it usually identifies only a fraction
of sources available. Be sure to include all sources in your bibliography, fully and
correctly cited. Make extra efforts to research “gray” literature (unpublished agency
reports) – they are often the most detailed and useful.

quality of analysis (50%). Make sure your paper goes beyond description and engages in
thoughtful, careful, and critical analysis, and is based on an original research question.
Papers which fail to move beyond description are simply unacceptable and will receive
an F.

quality of writing and presentation. (25%). Write with clarity (avoid vague, elusive, or
jargon-laden language); make sure that each paragraph starts with a thesis sentence,
backed up by evidence, and that the entire paper is organized logically, so that ideas and
arguments flow from one to the next; and take care to proofread for misspellings,
grammatical errors, awkward sentences, and so on. The evaluation of the executive
summary will be included in this portion of the grade. An excellent habit to get into is
writing a first full draft of the paper well in advance of the deadline, so that you can
reread it a few days later and find areas for improvement. Few policy papers and reports
in the post-collegiate world are ever submitted without extensive editing and rewriting!
(note: you will only receive a single numerical grade for your paper, not one broken down into
these three categories. This is provided to you as a general guide for how I assess papers)
Citations: You must use footnotes, not endnotes. Be sure the footnotes are expressed as Arabic,
not Roman, numerals.1 I attach some examples and guidelines below in Appendix C. Use
footnotes to acknowledge any intellectual debt to another author for ideas or language. Do not
risk a charge of plagiarism by being careless with footnoting. Create a system for keeping track
of sources and page numbers where information was acquired to facilitate footnoting.
Bibliography: Your paper must also include a bibliography which provides full citations for all
sources used in the text, including those which are not footnoted. See the guide for this attached
below.
Deadlines:

March 14: choice of topic to study, due in class (2-4 sentence proposal). Note: I reserve
the right to veto choices I do not think are appropriate or doable.

May 2: final paper due in class. Late papers are penalized 5 pts per day.
1
Like this!
Appendix C
Footnote and Bibliography Style Guidelines
General principle: All footnotes and bibliographic entries must be complete and consistent.
Footnotes must have pages numbers unless referring to a website where no pages are provided.
Indent bibliographic entries. Use the following style.
Examples:
Book:
fn
John Smith, History of Africa (Boulder: Westview Press, 1999), pp. 4-5.
Bib
Smith, John. History of Africa. Boulder: Westview Press, 1999.
Journal article
fn
John Smith, “Africa’s Democracy Challenge,” African Affairs vol. 50, no. 3 (Summer
2008), p. 34.
Bib
Smith, John. “Africa’s Democracy Challenge.” African Affairs vol. 50, no. 3, Summer
2008, pp. 1-35.
Chapter in edited book:
fn
John Smith, “Africa’s Democracy Challenge,” in Lisa Miller, ed., Africa in the New
Century (Boulder: Westview Press, 2009), p. 80.
Bib
Smith, John. “Africa’s Democracy Challenge.” In Lisa Miller, ed., Africa in the New
Century. Boulder: Westview Press, 2009, pp. 76-96.
News article:
Fn
John Smith, “Nigeria’s Elections Create Tension in the Region,” New York Times (6 August
2009), p. A10.
Bib
Smith, John. “Nigeria’s Elections Create Tension in the Region.” New York Times, 6
August 2009, p. A10.
Government, UN, or other organization report:
Fn.
United Nations, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, “Nutritional
Survey Results for Eastern Ethiopia,” (Addis Ababa: UN-OCHA, July 2009), p. 42.
Bib
United Nations, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. “Nutritional
Survey Results for Eastern Ethiopia.” Addis Ababa: UN-OCHA, July 2009.
Web-based material:
(note – this is trickier and requires more flexibility, the most important thing is to provide reader
with as much information as possible, the url, and date accessed by the writer)
Fn
Ken Menkhaus, “Somalia: Too Big a Problem to Fail?” Foreign Policy (web version) (6 August
2009)
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/08/06/somalia_too_big_a_problem_to_fail
[accessed August 18 2009]
bib
Menkhaus, Ken. “Somalia: Too Big a Problem to Fail?” Foreign Policy (web version), 6
August 2009.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/08/06/somalia_too_big_a_problem_to_fail
[accessed August 18 2009]
Other material – follow the basic principles established above.
Footnote repeat citations:
If using the same source as immediately previous footnote:
Ibid. or Ibid., p. 34.
If drawing on a source previously footnoted but not the note immediate previously, shorten the
citation:
Smith, “Nigeria’s Elections,” p. 2.
Appendix D
Sources for Research Project
A good research paper relies on a wide range of reputable sources. You must conduct a thorough
search of sources for your research paper. That includes not only identifying all the relevant
sources, but reading through them and determining which are the most authoritative and reliable.
Do not rely solely on a handful of sources, and do not restrict yourself to only one or two
types of sources. I will look over both your footnotes and bibliography carefully; if I am aware
of important articles or reports on your topic which you do not reference, your grade will be
marked down. Be aware that there is an ENORMOUS amount of material out there, on even the
most minor country. Don’t stop your search too soon; keep digging.
a) Published books – useful more for background than current analysis, as books take over a
year to come into print and tend to be a bit dated for current analysis.
b) Chapters in edited books. These can be harder to find if the title of the book isn’t selfevident. Example: if researching Somalia, you wouldn’t want to miss an article by two of
your own professors -- Ken Menkhaus and Lou Ortmayer, “Somalia: Misread Crises and
Missed Opportunities.” In Preventive Diplomacy in the Post-Cold War World:
Opportunities Missed, Opportunities Seized, and Lessons to be Learned, edited by Bruce
Jentleson, 211-237. New York: Carnegie Endowment, 1999.
c) Articles in refereed journals – refereed journals are periodicals for which experts “peer
review” submissions and only accept for publication those which pass review. That
generally means the reader can have a high level of confidence in the article. Depending
on the type of journal, articles can either be fairly topical or quite theoretical. These
articles usually have excellent, up-to-date bibliographies which will point you to other
sources. Use these bibliographies as guides to help you determine which sources are most
authoritative – if everyone is citing a certain report or article, that’s a good sign it’s worth
relying on.
For African politics, the following are some of the refereed journals which you should definitely
check (this is not an exhaustive list)
 Journal of Modern African Studies
 Review of African Political Economy
 African Affairs
 Development and Change
 Third World Quarterly
 Journal of Democracy
 Civil Wars
 Disasters
Most of these journals have websites which allow you to review an index of articles,
making it easy to check if they have anything on your subject. Some allow you to
view entire articles on-line (check via the library website for journals we subscribe
to).
d) Policy journals. These are journals which specialize in very topical issues, written for the
policy-making community (often by policy analysts, not academics) and with a more
prescriptive tone. They often have few footnotes or a bibliography. There is a quick turnaround time with these articles so they can be especially valuable for current analysis.
These journals also have websites with indices. Check the following:
 Foreign Affairs
 Foreign Policy
 Washington Quarterly
 World Policy Review
 SAIS Review
 Fletcher Forum on World Affairs
 Current History
 Journal of Humanitarian Affairs (web-based journal)
e) News periodicals and magazines. Several are devoted exclusively to a region of the
world: Others are general news sources which occasionally feature a country:
Newsweek, The Economist, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic, Time, etc. Search
engines in the library make finding these articles easy.
f) Newspaper and media articles and features. The worldwide web makes monitoring news
stories on Africa much easier than before. Nearly all of the world’s best newspapers and
multimedia news sources (like CNN) are now at our fingertips. Indeed, you can easily be
overwhelmed by the flood of news stories on a country. A few of the best sites include
the following:
 BBC website. www.bbc.co.uk.
 All-Africa News Group http://allafrica.com/ This is the largest source of news on Africa
on the web, posting over 700 stories per day from a wide range of media sources. An
excellent resource.
 The New York Times www.nytimes.com.
g) Internet-based news services. A number of internet sites are devoted exclusively to
reporting on general or specialized news items on Africa. But take care – some sites are
operated by political partisans from a country, and can be very biased. The most useful
internet news services for developing countries include::
 Relief Web. An excellent UN information network on news related to zones of
humanitarian and development work, at: http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf. Click
on “by country” and select a country – daily updates are provided on this site.
 Lexis- Nexis Search Engine. More info than you can handle – but beware, some of the
sources may be questionable. Go to the Davidson College website, select Library,
select Reference, select On-Line Reference Tools, scroll to “Political Science” in the
“Indexes and Databases” icon, scroll down to “Lexis-Nexis Country Analysis” and
enter the country you want to monitor. The search engine allows you to select the
period of time for your search and prioritize entries by date or relevance.
h) “Gray” literature. One of the most valuable but often least accessible sources for
political and economic trend analysis are unpublished reports by governments, the UN,
international organizations, think tanks, advocacy groups, databases, businesses, and nonprofit organizations. Happily, the internet has greatly increased access to this type of
analysis, but you still have to look hard. For a small sampling of websites where valuable
country reports or data might be found (as well as links to other sites), see:
 US Department of State
http://www.state.gov/
 US Agency for International Development http://www.usaid.gov/
 UK Department for International Development http://www.dfid.gov.uk
 UN (check especially Security Council reports) http://www.un.org/
 UNDP Emergency Unit for Africa http://www.africa.upenn.edu/eue_web/eue_mnu.htm
 UNICEF http://www.unicef.org/
 World Bank http://www.worldbank.org/
 Africa Action http://www.africaaction.org/
 Africa Focus http://www.africafocus.org/
 Center for Strategic and International Studies http://www.csis.org/
 International Crisis Group http://www.crisisweb.org/ NOTE: This is one of the single
most important sources on countries at risk of conflict; a must-read site.
 Human Rights Watch http://www.hrw.org/
 Freedom House http://www.freedomhouse.org/
i) Specialized news analysis/intelligence services. This is not always an easy option for you, as
many of these sources are too expensive for our library. But you should be aware of their
existence. Africa Confidential, Oxford Analytica, Jane’s Information Group and Indian Ocean
Newsletter are among the most valuable sources of inside news in this category but are not
accessible through the library.