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Professor Abdourahmane Idrissa, the Ali A. Mazrui Senior Fellow in Global African Studies at The Africa Institute conducted a lecture titled “Elite Democracy in Africa: Meaning and Problemson Tuesday, December 6, 2022.

Professor Idrissa is a political scientist with a strong interest in history and political economy. He obtained his doctorate at the University of Florida following research work on democratization and political Islam in the Sahel before developing expertise in the political economy of development during a two-year post-doctorate at the University of Oxford and Princeton University. He is currently a senior researcher at Leiden University’s African Studies Centre.

This lecture aimed to explore African democratization by building on research conducted in the context of the Sahel countries, especially Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. It raised the question of the meaning of representative democracy in Africa.

 “I wanted the to describe how representation fails to work in Africa’s (or the Sahel’s) plural societies and complex political economies – moreover shorn of capitalist development. It also ponders some of the implications and dire consequences of this state of affairs,” said Professor Idrissa.

As a fellow at the Africa Institute, Idrissa is working on a book about the Songhay Empire and the significant changes that have occurred on the global stage during its century of existence, the pivotal sixteenth century. The book is under contract with publishers Allen Lane and Penguin Books.

The session was moderated by Professor Salah M. Hassan, Director of The Africa Institute who took questions from the attending faculty as well as senior and post-doctoral fellows.

Through these lectures and workshops, The Africa Institute reaffirms its mission as a center for the study and research of Africa and its diaspora, and its commitment to the training of a new generation of critical thinkers in African and African Diaspora studies.

Professor Abdourahmane Idrissa, the Ali A. Mazrui Senior Fellow in Global African Studies at The Africa Institute conducted a lecture titled “Elite Democracy in Africa: Meaning and Problems” on Tuesday, December 6, 2022.

Professor Abdourahmane Idrissa, the Ali A. Mazrui Senior Fellow in Global African Studies at The Africa Institute conducted a lecture titled “Elite Democracy in Africa: Meaning and Problemson Tuesday, December 6, 2022.

Professor Idrissa is a political scientist with a strong interest in history and political economy. He obtained his doctorate at the University of Florida following research work on democratization and political Islam in the Sahel before developing expertise in the political economy of development during a two-year post-doctorate at the University of Oxford and Princeton University. He is currently a senior researcher at Leiden University’s African Studies Centre.

This lecture aimed to explore African democratization by building on research conducted in the context of the Sahel countries, especially Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. It raised the question of the meaning of representative democracy in Africa.

 “I wanted the to describe how representation fails to work in Africa’s (or the Sahel’s) plural societies and complex political economies – moreover shorn of capitalist development. It also ponders some of the implications and dire consequences of this state of affairs,” said Professor Idrissa.

As a fellow at the Africa Institute, Idrissa is working on a book about the Songhay Empire and the significant changes that have occurred on the global stage during its century of existence, the pivotal sixteenth century. The book is under contract with publishers Allen Lane and Penguin Books.

The session was moderated by Professor Salah M. Hassan, Director of The Africa Institute who took questions from the attending faculty as well as senior and post-doctoral fellows.

Through these lectures and workshops, The Africa Institute reaffirms its mission as a center for the study and research of Africa and its diaspora, and its commitment to the training of a new generation of critical thinkers in African and African Diaspora studies.

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