Civil Society | Council on Foreign Relations

Burkina Faso

Prince of the Sahel

Beneath the ideological bluster, Burkina Faso’s Ibrahim Traoré is just the latest in a long line of African martial impostors.

Post by Ebenezer Obadare March 3, 2025 Africa in Transition
Nigeria

An Obnoxious Legislation

Nigeria’s blasphemy laws have no place in modern society.

Post by Ebenezer Obadare January 22, 2025 Africa in Transition
Nigeria

Addressing Entities of Particular Concern: Non-State Actors and Egregious Violations of Religious Freedom

Ebenezer Obadare's testimony before the United States Committee on International Religious Freedom addresses how Boko Haram, ISWAP, and other violent non-state actors commit religious freedom violations across Central Africa and the Sahel, and what U.S. policy response should be.

Testimony by Ebenezer Obadare November 19, 2024 Africa Program

Experts in this Topic

Jerome A. Cohen

Adjunct Senior Fellow for Asia Studies

Kat Duffy

Senior Fellow for Digital and Cyberspace Policy

Carl Minzner

Senior Fellow For China Studies

Ebenezer Obadare

Douglas Dillon Senior Fellow for Africa Studies

Burkina Faso

Fear and Loathing in the Sahel

Across the region, the promise of a better life under the military is fast turning into a nightmare.

Post by Ebenezer Obadare October 14, 2024 Africa in Transition
Nigeria

The God of All Things

Why a dangerous reliance on miracles matters for ethics and policy.

Post by Ebenezer Obadare October 7, 2024 Africa in Transition
Nigeria

The Unmaking of an Elite

The great tragedy of Nigerian tertiary education is the debasement of its professoriate.

Post by Ebenezer Obadare September 16, 2024 Africa in Transition

Sub-Saharan Africa

The Truth About Africa's "Debt Crisis"

Africa has a governance crisis, not a debt crisis.

Post by Ebenezer Obadare September 5, 2024 Africa in Transition
Rwanda

Kagame's Crusade

The Rwandan President’s attempt to regulate faith-based organizations raises more questions than answers.

Post by Ebenezer Obadare August 26, 2024 Africa in Transition
Sub-Saharan Africa

Uncivil Society

The standard state versus society framework for analyzing African politics is no longer fit for purpose.

Post by Ebenezer Obadare August 22, 2024 Africa in Transition
Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s Pre-SADC Crackdown

As SADC leaders gather in Harare for their annual summit, Zimbabwe’s government rounds up perceived “enemies of the state.”

Post by Michelle Gavin August 13, 2024 Africa in Transition
Nigeria

A Loud Silence

Pentecostal leaders’ avoidance of the #EndBadGovernance protests in Nigeria speaks volumes about the protests’ ethnoreligious undercurrents.

Post by Ebenezer Obadare August 12, 2024 Africa in Transition
Nigeria

The Myth of the ‘Leaderless’ African Protest

Rather than being leaderless, contemporary African protests are being steered by a leadership no one saw coming.

Post by Ebenezer Obadare August 8, 2024 Africa in Transition
Nigeria

A False Dilemma

Bad governance, not dissent, is the real threat to law and order in Nigeria.

Post by Ebenezer Obadare July 29, 2024 Africa in Transition
Uganda

Uganda’s Inventive Protest Culture

In the face of growing repression, Ugandans continue to find new and creative ways to combat the entrenched system of state capture.

Post by Michelle Gavin July 17, 2024 Africa in Transition
Nigeria

Who Needs an Emir?

The ongoing Emirship tussle in Nigeria begs broader questions about the place of traditional rulership in Africa’s emerging democracies.

Post by Ebenezer Obadare June 24, 2024 Africa in Transition