Publications /
Policy Brief

Back
COVID-19 and Digital Repression in Africa
Authors
October 11, 2021

The current global pattern of democratic retrenchment has multiple causes, including economic inequality, American imperial overreach, and increased migration, all of which have led to disillusionment with democratic systems, and inspired a populist demand for populist leaders. This populist wave has also led to the personalization of political regimes, democratic and authoritarian, with power highly concentrated in the hands of a single individual, as seen in Turkey, Philippines, Poland, Russia and on the African continent as well. The COVID-19 pandemic has been exploited by African regimes to crack down on opposition movements, promote disinformation, and surveil citizenry. Lockdowns in Africa have been violently enforced to ban political gatherings and electoral campaigning."

RELATED CONTENT

  • Authors
    September 15, 2025
    The October 2025 general elections in Tanzania unfold within a political culture grounded in consensus and institutional continuity. President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s leadership has reopened political space by restoring elite dialogue, easing restrictions on rallies, and facilitating the return of exiled figures. Yet the exclusion of CHADEMA—the principal opposition party—highlights the enduring limits of pluralism. This paper analyzes the Tanzanian electoral process less as a convent ...
  • Authors
    Sous la direction de
    June 18, 2025
    Bientôt disponible en vente sur Livremoi. Les différentes éditions du Rapport annuel de la géopolitique de l’Afrique, que le Policy Center for the New South publie chaque année, se suivent mais ne se ressemblent pas. Elles ne gardent en commun que leur inscription, dans une même ligne éditoriale, celle qui privilégie l’Afrique en particulier et le Sud en Général. Les différentes éditions se ressemblent en ce sens que leur objet, à toutes, est de permettre à des Africains d ...
  • Authors
    June 18, 2025
    In 2000, The Economist dismissed Africa as the “Hopeless Continent”—a label reflecting a broader system of marginalization rooted in colonial legacy and post-Cold War neglect. This essay offers a realist reappraisal, arguing that Africa’s growing strategic relevance is not the result of benevolence, but of structural necessity.Amid a fracturing global order and the rise of transactional geopolitics under Trump 2.0’s Bessent Doctrine, Africa has become indispensable: rich in critical ...
  • May 28, 2025
    Ce Policy Paper analyse l’érosion progressive de l’ambition d’influence internationale de l’Afrique du Sud, jadis portée par un capital symbolique exceptionnel issu de sa transition postapartheid. Il montre comment Pretoria, longtemps perçue comme une puissance morale et normative au service de la transformation continentale et multilatérale, fait désormais face à des contraintes structurelles qui fragilisent son rôle sur la scène internationale.À partir d’un cadrage histor ...
  • May 27, 2025
    تتناول هذه الحلقة الأهمية الاستراتيجية المتزايدة للفضاء البحري لإفريقيا الأطلسية، في ظل تصاعد رهانات السيادة والأمن البحري والتعاون الاقتصادي. نناقش سبل الاستفادة من الثروات البحرية الهائلة، وسبل تعزيز الاقتصاد الأزرق والتنمية المستدامة. نتطرق إلى التهديدات الأمنية كالصيد غير القانوني و...