| peter dörrie

Think Africa Press: How Much Longer Can Compaoré Rule Last?

Aug

2012

On October 15, President Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso will celebrate his 25th year in power. To spend that much time in office, he had to run coups against two governments. In the first in 1983, he helped his friend and fellow revolutionary Thomas Sankara become president. In the second, four years later, Compaoré took ...

War is Boring: Africa Round-Up

Aug

2012

Mali There hasn’t been much of a change in the overall situation during the last weeks: the northern half of Mali — an area about the size of France — is occupied by a range of rebel groups. While neighboring states and the international community are deeply concerned over the Islamist policies of some of ...

African Arguments: Blaise Compaoré And The Politics Of Personal Enrichment

Aug

2012

I’m extremely happy to have a piece about Burkina Faso/Blaise Compaoré published on the excellent African Arguments blog of the Royal African Society today. The article developed from this earlier rant and develops some arguments further. By African standards, Burkina Faso is not a particularly spectacular country. It is small, has a tiny population and ...

World Politics Review: In Ethiopia, Post-Zenawi Void Could Create Opening for Reform

Aug

2012

My latest piece over at World Politics Review on the continuing absence of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi: For 20 years, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has been the undisputed ruler of Ethiopia. Zenawi was the leader of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which in concert with its sister rebel group from Eritrea toppled the Moscow-aligned dictator ...

“The roads are wide and well maintained …” 9

Aug

2012

I was incredibly happy to see that the African Arguments blog of the Royal African Society published an article on Burkina Faso today. Well researched analysis of political affairs here are few and far between and usually, African Arguments is the place to go for this kind of stuff. The piece titled “Compaoré’s Continuing Will ...