Diplomacy

9th FOCAC summit: A Further Demonstration of China’s commitment to Shared prosperity

9th FOCAC summit: A Further Demonstration of China’s commitment to Shared prosperity

This year’s Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FoCAC) summit in Beijing further underscored China’s commitment to shared prosperity. This message  was driven home through the keynote address of president Xi Jinping at the opening of the FoCAC summit earlier this month. In his speech, president Xi emphasised multiple  key areas for China-Africa cooperation over the […]

Is China a Democracy?

Is China a Democracy?

One of the hardest – and perhaps most controversial definitions in political literature today is democracy. What is democracy? Who decides what is democratic? Is there a universal value attached to democracy? Do all people, from all cultures, from all histories, and from all social-economic conditions, share common perspectives on what is or is not […]

Africa cross-pollinates civilizations

Africa cross-pollinates civilizations

Samuel Huntington riled many minds in the international relations circles when in 1993, he published “The Clash of Civilizations?”, a controversial article which he later expanded (and I would add, “escalated”) into a book in 1996. In the article cum book, he theorized that cultural and religious identities rather than ideological differences would define the […]

CHINA’S DIPLOMATIC BLUEPRINT: HOPE FOR A DYING ART OF DIPLOMACY

CHINA’S DIPLOMATIC BLUEPRINT: HOPE FOR A DYING ART OF DIPLOMACY

In the modern geopolitics, an ugly discovering has been made: the cold-blooded killing of traditional diplomacy of dialogue between nations lies lifeless, its vibrant spirit snuffed out by the hands of indifference and hostility. The absence of diplomatic discourse has left a void, one that threatens the fabric of peaceful coexistence. As one looks through the wreckages, a […]

Four Decades and 800M People Out of Poverty: Lessons From China’s Poverty Alleviation Approach

Four Decades and 800M People Out of Poverty: Lessons From China’s Poverty Alleviation Approach

At the dawn of African independence, Kwame Nkrumah is quoted to have said “Seek ye first the political Kingdom and all else shall be added unto you.” However, as reality has proved to us, whereas political freedom might have been a necessary condition for Africa’s economic freedom, some analysts contend that this was not necessarily a sufficient […]