Blogs & Opinions

Crunching the Numbers on Climate Change, Conflict, and Food Aid

Dec 31, 2014 | Sarah Meyerhoff

Two studies push back on recent analyses that claim to demonstrate empirical links between food aid and conflict and climate change and conflict.

This summer, Nathan…

The Egypt-Ethiopia Dispute Over the Nile Basin Can Evolve into a Strategic Partnership

Dec 30, 2014 | Goitom Gebreluel

Ethiopia and Egypt have successfully managed to end their millennia-long rivalry over the river Nile. Ethiopia’s announcement in 2011 of its intention to construct Africa’s…

Business's Bribery Shifts Country Dividends To A Privileged Few

Dec 28, 2014 | J. Yanqui Zaza, The Perspective

For big business to get its sweet heart deal, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf paid $31,000, predictably, to each Liberian Senator, to approve an Oil Agreement…

Falling Oil Prices and the Consequences for Sub-Saharan Africa

Dec 23, 2014 | Amadou Sy, Brookings Institution

Yesterday, in reaction to the recent, dramatic drop in oil prices, Africa Growth Initiative Nonresident Fellow Rabah Arezki and International Monetary Fund Chief Economist  Olivier…

Breaking the silence: Protecting civilians from toxic remnants of war

Dec 18, 2014 | Doug Weir

Toxic remnants of war and their legacy of civilian harm is seriously under-explored as an area of conflict. There is a growing consensus that the current…

Congo-Kinshasa: Leveraging Mobile Tech to Combat Conflict and Corruption

Dec 17, 2014 | Eliot Pence, allAfrica

Rarely has so small a law stirred so much debate about so distant a conflict. Over the past several months, debate about legislation requiring companies…

How to cut militias off from gold and mineral mines in Congo

Dec 17, 2014 | The Los Angeles Times

Few parts of the world have been more ravaged by war and violence over the last two decades than the Democratic Republic of Congo. That's…

Q & A: Bill Hayton on Growing Rivalries in the South China Sea

Dec 17, 2014 | Jane Perlez, The New York Times

Bill Hayton, a longtime journalist with the BBC, has spent much of his career chronicling events in Southeast Asia and observing the growing rivalries in…

'Extreme Realities' Sheds Light on Links Between Global Climate Dynamics and National Security

Dec 17, 2014 | Sarah Meyerhoff

“We cannot ignore the new reality that climate change has become a major foreign policy issue in the 21st century,” a new film by Hal and…

Women's Land Rights and Africa's Development Conundrum- Which Way Forward?

Dec 12, 2014 | Eric Yeboah

How can African countries use land policies to ensure agricultural development and inclusive growth? Particularly in countries which are dominated by patriarchal land ownership systems?…

Conflict Minerals Regulation Helping Thousands of Miners

Dec 12, 2014 | Source Intelligence

How the Conflict Minerals Regulation Benefits Congolese Miners The Enough Project's U.S. and Congo-based groups visited mining communities in eastern Congo to "get an updated…

The Australian Defence Force’s Approach to Contaminated Land Management

Dec 9, 2014 | Andy Garrity

The Australian Defence Force has a comprehensive management plan for TRW sites and practices and the Department of Defence recognises its responsibility to remediate sites…

Feeding Unrest: A Closer Look at the Relationship Between Food Prices and Sociopolitical Conflict

Dec 8, 2014 | New Security Beat

From the Roman poet Juvenal’s observations about bread and circuses to Marie Antoinette’s proclamation, “let them eat cake!” the link between food and political stability is well…

Unregulated World Oil Market Is A Peace For South Sudan

Dec 8, 2014 | Gurtong

No More Resource Curse: Unregulated World Oil Market is a Peace for South Sudan

Faced with US sale oil boom and lower global oil demand, oil…

9 Things You Need To Know About Conflict Minerals

Dec 5, 2014 | Think Progress

The armed conflict in eastern Congo that has killed over 5.4 million people is financed largely by trading minerals used in an array of common…

Writing China: Luke Patey, ‘The New Kings of Crude’

Dec 5, 2014 | Wall Street Journal

China’s hunt for oil to drive its fast-growing economy has taken it into conflict areas like Sudan and South Sudan, a risky venture for both…

Missing the Progress Made in Congo

Dec 5, 2014 | Washington Post

The Dec. 1 front-page article “In Congo, unintended harm from a U.S. law,” about Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act, understated the important progress made in the fight to…

Water Wars of the 21st Century

Dec 1, 2014 | Dawn

While oil may have triggered many of the conflicts of the 20th century, many believe that this century’s wars will mostly be over water. Four…

Common Sense on Conflict Minerals

Dec 1, 2014 | Project Syndicate

“That diamond upon your finger, say how came it yours?” asks Shakespeare’s Cymbeline. “Thou’lt torture me,” responds the villainous Iachimo, “to leave unspoken that which, to be…

Pipeline Geopolitics: From Syria to Russia via Ukraine

Nov 30, 2014 | Counter Currents

Prior to landing in Ukraine or before I start glossing the western sanction on Russia, it is important to take the readers through the memory…

Conflict Minerals: EU Can Save Lives and Boost Profits

Nov 29, 2014 | EU Observer

It’s not always fashionable to talk about Brussels wielding power. To many, the inner workings of the European Union seem far-removed from day-to-day life, and…

Going for Congo's Gold

Nov 26, 2014 | Washington Post

Just in time for the holidays, the Enough Project, an advocacy group that has worked for years to stop war crimes in Congo by bringing…

Congo’s Problems Run Deeper than Oil

Nov 21, 2014 | Reuters

Save the gorillas and save the Democratic Republic of Congo, urges “Virunga,” a new documentary from Netflix and enviro-mensches Leonardo DiCaprio and Howard Buffett. The…

Gidon Bromberg on Environmental Peacebuilding in the Lower Jordan Valley

Nov 21, 2014 | New Security Beat

“When you turn on the tap in any community in Israel, water will always flow. That’s not the case in Palestine, and it’s not always…

Kono, Sierra Leone: Cry Me a River

Nov 21, 2014 | The Union

Kono is the main diamond mining district in Sierra Leone. The origin of Blood Diamonds is right here. Even today, the buildings that were damaged…

Iraqi-Kurdish Oil Deal Falls Short of Solutions

Nov 16, 2014 | The Telegraph

Goran Mohammed had just completed his second year of university in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil when he dropped out to help his father…

Europe Is Dragging Its Feet on Conflict Minerals

Nov 16, 2014 | Huffington Post

Don't ask, don't tell. This is the deal consumers have long been offered by companies in exchange for cheaper clothes, cheaper food, and cheaper gadgets.…

Cal Poly Passes Conflict Minerals Resolution

Nov 13, 2014 | Enough Project

On May 20th, 2014, the California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) Academic Senate passed a conflict minerals resolution, making Cal Poly the 17th school to go conflict-free. Below…

Study Links Hot Weather to Violent Conflict in Africa

Nov 10, 2014 | Carbon Brief

Analysis of violent events in the past 30 years in sub-Saharan Africa reveals a link to high temperatures, a new study finds.However, the researchers say…

Iraq's Future: It's the Oil, Stupid

Nov 10, 2014 | Al-Jazeera

This week, Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abbadi is scheduled to visit Erbil, his first visit to the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq as…