This Discussion Paper critically examines local governance in the Niger Delta and its relevance to the search for inclusive and sustainable conflict-resolution in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria. It critiques the existing local government system and explores the possibility of reconceptualising local governance along more inclusive, accountable and parti...

Lecture given at the Africanists' day, May 31, 1980, at the Nordic Africa Institute. 13 pages.

Report from the workshop 'Regionalising African civil societies : lessons, opportunities and constraints', held in Uppsala, Sweden in October 2014 and co-organised by the Nordic Africa Institute (Sweden), the West Africa Civil Society Institute (Ghana) and the Department of Human Geography at Stockholm University (Sweden).

Southern Africa is likely to experience more social unrest in the foreseeable future. That is one of the conclusions in this policy dialogue, which provides an overview of political and economic developments relevant to regional peace and security in Southern Africa. While the region continues to experience isolated armed conflicts, and while developmental backlogs...

Two approaches have characterised analysis of the postcolonial state in Africa. One emphasises the territorial integrity of the postcolonial state, with inherited colonial borders being viewed as sacrosanct and state-centred rights being given primacy. The other questions the sacrosanctity of colonial borders and seeks to promote the primacy of people-centred right...

In its efforts to assist post-conflict societies in africa the international aid community has acitvely promoted projects of psycho-social healing among people traumatized during wars and violent conflict. To a large degree these projects have been established in the tradtion of Western psychology. More recently, however, it has been realized in order to help survi...

In international peacekeeping operations (PKOs) some individuals are involved in sexual exploitation and abuse of the host country’s population, buying of sexual services and trafficking of prostitutes. Far from being a new phenomenon it goes back a long time, and reports on the issue have increased over the years. All too frequently we read about peacekeepers visi...

For a long time it has been necessary to move beyond sterile debates for or against Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). The real issue is: what kind of EPAs will support African governments in their efforts to promote the structural transformation of their economies, so that they can move beyond the production of simple and unprocessed products to the productio...