News

Projects

• DFG funds research project on hybrid regimes in Africa
  The German Research Foundation (DFG) has agreed to fund the research project “Causes of hybrid regimes in sub-Saharan Africa – a systematic comparison”. The project will study the path-dependent development of different regime types. It will run for two years and is associated with the GIGA’s Research Programme 1. The project applicant and director is Dr. Gero Erdmann. Alexander Stroh and Sebastian Elischer, M.A., MIS.

• DZ Bank Foundation funds project on microinsurance
  The DZ Bank Foundation has agreed to fund the "Determinants of Demand for Microinsurance in Ghana" research project, which is associated with GIGA Research Programme 3. The project will run for two years. The project applicant and director is Dr. Susan Steiner. The project will be conducted mainly by Lena Giesbert.

• The impact of structural militarization on post-war Eritrean society
  The Fritz Thyssen Foundation has agreed to fund the new research project "The consequences of structural militarisation of the Eritrean society after the war with Ethiopia”. The project will run for two years and is associated with GIGA research programme 2. It will be implemented by Dr. Nicole Hirt. The project applicant is Dr. Andreas Mehler.

• DSF funds research project on religion and civil war in Africa
  The German Foundation for Peace Research (Deutsche Stiftung Friedensforschung, DSF) has agreed to fund the "Religion and Civil War: On the Ambivalence of Religious Factors in sub-Saharan Africa" research project. The project builds on a pilot project and will run for two years. The project is associated with GIGA Research Programme 2. The main researchers are Dr. Peter Körner and Johannes Vüllers, M.A. The project director and applicant is Dr. Matthias Basedau.

Conferences/Events/Lectures

• "GIGA Forum" Lecture Series

• AEGIS Thematic Conference
  Power Sharing Agreements in Africa: Implications for Peace, Democracy and Societal Trust
  The AEGIS Thematic Conference took place at the GIGA Institute of African Affairs on October1-2, 2009. It is sponsored by the Fritz-Thyssen foundation.
  Power sharing is a prominent aspect of most recent African peace settlements (Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, Burundi, Liberia, Sudan etc.), although there are important variations in the form it can take. Implications for Peace, Democracy and Societal Trust vary accordingly. This thematic conference in the AEGIS framework drew on a wide variety of disciplinary approaches and country experiences.

Conference Program
Conceptual Framework
Annotated bibliography

• Strong GIGA Presence at the 3rd European Conference on African Studies, June 4–7, 2009, Leipzig
  With approximately 1,200 participants and 900 presentations, the ECAS 3 surpassed all expectations. It was the biggest European Africa conference to date. The GIGA had a strong presence. Matthias Basedau, Juliane Brach, Sebastian Elischer, Gero Erdmann, Lena Giesbert, Robert Kappel, Laurence Marfaing, Andreas Mehler, Christian von Soest and Alexander Stroh all either gave presentations, chaired panels or acted as discussants. The Africa Virtual Library project distributed a flyer as part of the conference documents to draw attention to the newly activated www.ilissAfrica.de website. Ellen Baumann and Andreas Holtz organised a well-visited stand to publicise Africa Spectrum’s new format as an Open Access journal. The GIGA advertised its new Open Access journals in the conference documents. A reception to celebrate the launch of Africa Spectrum as an Open Access journal could also not be forgotten.
  (The GIGA staff members’ presentations can be downloaded here)

• Call for Panels: Continuities, Dislocations and Transformations: Reflections on 50 Years of African Independence
  Biennial conference of the German Association for African Studies (Vereinigung für Afrikawissenschaften in Deutschland/VAD) at Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, April 8-10, 2010.

• The GIGA Institute of African Affairs, together with renowned partners, periodically organises dialogue forums in Berlin which address topical Africa-related issues:

  The "Afrika Gesprächskreis" is held by the GIGA and the Heinrich Böll Foundation. Political and social actors discuss the issues under examination with researchers and other Africa experts. Political, economic and societal decision makers, as well as the media, are invited.
  Contact: Dr. Gero Erdmann ()
  
  
  The "GIGA South Africa Forum" is jointly organised by the GIGA and the Embassy of South Africa in Berlin . Among the forum participants are representatives of parliaments, political parties, ministries, non-governmental organisations, embassies, and the media.
  Contact: Dr. Gero Erdmann ()
  
  Participation in the "Afrika-Gesprächskreis im Auswärtigen Amt" is limited to the staff of the German Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, other ministries, and selected research institutions.
  Contact: Dr. Andreas Mehler ()

New Publications

• GIGA Focus Afrika: (German-language version only)
  Nr. 12, 2009: 125 Jahre Berliner Afrika-Konferenz: Bedeutung für Geschichte und Gegenwart (Andreas Eckert)

Extra: GIGA Focus Afrika 2/08, in English: "Climate Change in Africa" (Barbara Unmüßig und Stefan Cramer)

• GIGA Working Paper:
  Annegret Mähler: Nigeria: A Prime Example of the Resource Curse? Revisiting the Oil-Violence Link in the Niger Delta, January 2010

• GIGA Journal Family:
  Afrika Spectrum: 2/2009

• Matthias Basedau (mit Tim Wegenast): Oil and Diamonds as Causes of Civil War in Sub-Saharan Africa: Under what Conditions?, in: Colombia Internacional, 70, Julio-diciembre 2009, pp. 35-59

• Dirk Kohnert (with Heinz Jockers and Paul Nugent): The Successful Ghana Election of 2008: A Convenient Myth?, in: Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 48 (2010) 1, pp. 95-115 (Full article)

• Dirk Kohnert EU-Africa economic relations: Continuing dominance, traded for aid? In: Bello, V./Gebrewold, B. (Hg.), A Global Security Triangle. European, African and Asian Interaction, Routledge/GARNET series: Europe in the World, London / New York: Routledge, S. 111-136, pre-published: GIGA Working " A Global Security Triangle. European, African and Asian Interaction", July 2008, Hamburg (Abstract & full article)

• Christian von Soest (2009): The African State and Its Revenues. How Politics Influences Tax Collection in Zambia and Botswana, in: Entwicklungstheorie und Entwicklungspolitik, Bd. 6, Baden-Baden: Nomos (Abstract / Flyer)

• Susan Steiner: "Constraints on the implementation of decentralisation and implications for poverty reduction ­ The case of Uganda", in: Gordon Crawford and Christof Hartmann (eds.): Decentralisation in Africa: A Pathway out of Poverty and Conflict?, Amsterdam University Press, May 2008, pp. 33-72.

• Alexander von Stroh: Burkina Faso - Africa Yearbook 4 ­ Politics, economy and society South of the Sahara, Melber/Mehler/Walraven (Hg.), Leiden & Boston, Brill, October 1, 2008, pp.: 48-54

• Basedau, Matthias/Erdmann, Gero/Mehler, Andreas (eds.): Votes, Money and Violence. Political Parties and Elections in Sub-Saharan Africa. Uppsala/Scottsville: Nordiska Afrika Institutet/KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2007 (Abstract / Table of Contents / Reviews: N. Walle , J. W. Harbeson, P. Quantin , E.Ziso)

Personnel matters

• Award for Doctoral Thesis
  Dr. Christian von Soest, research fellow at the GIGA Institute of African Affairs (IAA), has received the Junior Scientists Award from the African Studies Association in Germany (VAD). The prize for his PhD thesis, “The African State and the Capability to Raise Revenue”, was awarded at the 14 May 2008 opening ceremony of the biannual international VAD Conference in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.

Other updates

• Africa Virtual Library on the Internet (Press release, June 25, 2009)
  Central gateway to information on Africa for researchers now online
  Finding relevant literature on a specific African topic or country – this is possible with the “internet library sub-saharan Africa” (ilissAfrica), which is now online and accessible to everyone. Users can search for books, anthologies, journal articles and Internet resources at www.ilissafrica.de. They are then led directly to the corresponding website or shown at which library the book or journal article can be found.

• The board meeting of the Africa-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies (AEGIS) at GIGA
  The board meeting of the Africa-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies (AEGIS) was held for the first time ever at GIGA on December 18, 2008. AEGIS is the coordinating body of European African studies centres and currently has 20 members from 11 countries across Europe. Board members are Paul Nugent (Edinburgh, chair), Leo de Haan (Leiden), Manuel Ramos (Lissabon), Ulf Engel (Leipzig), and Andreas Mehler (GIGA Institute of African Affairs/ für Afrika-Studien, Hamburg).