News & Events

In contrast to historians who argue that colonial Northern Rhodesia (current Zambia) nearly collapsed during the course of the First World War, Prof. Jan-Bart Gewald in his latest book argues that it was precisely on account of the war that the British South Africa Company was able to establish effective colonial administration. Gewald will talk about his findings during the ASCL seminar on 28 January. All welcome, please register!

Merel van 't Wout, winner Africa Thesis Award 2015, will take a closer look at efforts to promote entrepreneurship as a development strategy during this Africa Today seminar on 14 January. Based on the stories of seamstresses in Bolgatanga (Ghana) she argues that there is a huge discrepancy between the theoretical arguments underlying efforts to advance entrepreneurship among the poor, and the everyday realities that people portrayed as “entrepreneurs” are facing on a daily basis.

This new working paper by Marion Eeckhout focuses on the financial means of implementation generated since the Monterrey Conference for attaining the Millennium Development Goals in Sub-Saharan African countries. It explores whether the Monterrey Consensus in 2002 constituted an inclusive action agenda, thus creating an equal chance for all developing countries to benefit from the additional financial resources mobilized. 

The ASC is saddened by the news that Professor Sam Moyo, former President of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) passed away on 22 November. Professor Moyo had a car accident in New Delhi, India, where he was attending a conference on labour questions in the Global South. ASC director Ton Dietz worked closely with Professor Moyo in the 1990s and wrote a tribute to commemorate him.