Tag Archives: Somalia

Scholars’ Circle – Somaliland and Ethiopia relations affects Horn of Africa region; Niger Coup side steps democracy – February 4, 2024

February 4, 2024 host

Ethiopia is the first nation to recognize a breakaway region of Somalia called Somaliland since its declaration of independence 33 years ago. Why did Ethiopia recognize it and what does it mean for peace in the region.

Markus Virgil Hoehne is a lecturer at the Institute of Social Anthropology at the University of Leipzig. He is the author of Between Somaliland and Puntland: Marginalization, Militarization and Conflicting Political Visions and is co-editor of Borders and Borderlands as Resources in the Horn of Africa with Dereje Feyissa and Co-Editor of Dynamics of Identification and Conflict: Anthropological Encounters.
Aleksi Ylönen is a researcher at the Center for International Studies, Iscte-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, a professor at the United States International University-Africa, and an associate fellow at the HORN International Institute for Strategic Studies. He is the author of External power competition in the Horn of Africa: Somaliland’s quest for international recognition and development and Inheriting power: Somaliland’s political institutions and the 2017 presidential election.

Niger’s promising democracy was toppled by a military coup last year. We revisit the causes of the coup to remind us of the need for continuing pressure on military governments to return to democracy and the rule of law.

Brett Logan Carter is Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Southern California. He is the author of “Can Western Donors Constrain Repressive Governments? Evidence from Debt Relief Negotiations in Africa” , “Propaganda in Autocracies: Institutions, Information, and the Politics of Belief” ( co-authored with Erin Baggott Carter ).

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Food Insecurity and Famine , why they persist? – May 28, 2023

May 28, 2023 host

Famine and food insecurity threaten the lives of nearly a billion people worldwide. And the number of people living in food insecurity is increasing. Why is there food insecurity and what can be done? How much is food insecurity caused by environmental factors and how much is it caused by conflict? We will explore the conflict shock
that creates food insecurity particularly in East Africa , the Horn of Africa, and effective, efficient ways to address concerns of famine and food insecurity. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Daniel Maxwell is the Henry J. Leir Professor in Food Security at the Friedman School of Nutrition and Research Director at the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University. He is the author of Understanding the Humanitarian World with Kirsten Gelsdorf, Famine in Somalia: Competing Imperatives, Collective Failures with Nisar Majid and Humanitarian Challenges and Implications for Famine Early Warning Systems in Accountability for Mass Starvation.
Bill Moseley is DeWitt Wallace Professor of Geography at Macalester College. He is the author of “Climate crisis in Africa exposes real cause of hunger – colonial food systems that leave people more vulnerable” and “The trouble with drought as an explanation for famine in the Horn and Sahel of Africa“.
Bilal Butt is Associate Professor of Sustainability and Development at the University of Michigan. He is the author of Neoliberalism, Conservation and Dispossession in Kenya’s Arid Lands,” “Commoditizing the Safari and Making Space for Conflict: Place, Identity and Parks in East Africa” and Pastoral herd management, drought coping strategies, and cattle mobility in Southern Kenya”.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle-Rwanda-Genocide-Anniversary-/-How-to-Stop-Cruelty-of-Armed-Conflict-April 19th, 2015

April 18, 2015 host

First, in remembrance of the 21st Anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide, we revisit the tragedy with retired Lieutenant-General and Senator Roméo Dallaire who witnessed the atrocities first-hand.

Roméo Dallaire is a retired lieutenant-general and senator. In 1993, LGen Dallaire was appointed Force Commander for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), where he witnessed the country descend into chaos and genocide, leading to the deaths of more than 800,000 Rwandans.

Since his retirement, he has become an outspoken advocate for human rights, genocide prevention, mental health and war-affected children. He founded The Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative, an organization committed to ending the use of child soldiers worldwide. He is the author of Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda and They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children: The Global Quest to Eradicate the Use of Child Soldiers.

Next, war and armed conflict are declining on the global level, however atrocities, cruelty and lethal violence continue in many parts of the world. What justifies human cruelty? What is driving people to commit lethal violence and what can bystanders and others do to prevent their continuation?

Ervin Staub is a Professor of Psychology Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Founding Director of its Ph.D. concentration in the Psychology of Peace and Violence. He is the author of The Roots of Evil: The Origins of Genocide and Other Group Violence, The Psychology of Good and Evil: Why Children, Adults and Groups Help and Harm Others and his recently published book The Roots of Goodness and Resistance to Evil: Inclusive Caring, Moral Courage, Altruism Born of Suffering, Active Bystandership and Heroism.
David Livingstone Smith is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of New England. He is the author of Less Than Human: Why we Demean, Enslave and Exterminate Others.
John Kaag is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. He is the author of Neoconservative Images of the United Nations: American Domestic Politics and International Cooperation.

Visit our Store [ lists books written by each on this panel ]

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Tag Archives: Somalia

Scholars’ Circle – Somaliland and Ethiopia relations affects Horn of Africa region; Niger Coup side steps democracy – February 4, 2024

Scholars’ Circle – Food Insecurity and Famine , why they persist? – May 28, 2023

Scholars’ Circle-Rwanda-Genocide-Anniversary-/-How-to-Stop-Cruelty-of-Armed-Conflict-April 19th, 2015

By Maria Armoudian