Retired United States Ambassador Geeta Pasi, the inaugural Donald F. McHenry Visiting Professor in Diplomacy and International Affairs at Illinois State University, participated in a talk entitled “African Democracy in the Balance” at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics on October 31. The event was co-sponsored by the university’s Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts.
Speakers addressed the current political situation in Africa with a view to the future of democracy there. Since 2020, at least a dozen African nations have endured coups; six countries crossing 3,500 miles across the center of the continent now constitute the longest stretch of military rule in the world.
Other speakers included James Robinson, director of the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts at the University of Chicago; Semafor Africa Editor Yinka Adegoke; and Mvemba Phezo Dizolele, director and senior fellow of the Africa program at the Center for Strategic & International Studies.
