About fifty years after the independence of most former colonies on the African continent, books on African nationalism again rank high on the agenda of the international academic discussion. A selection of three recent publications demonstrates the advances made in scholarly analysis in the...

Cryptocurrencies are hidden monies that are specifically created to be used asdigital currencies while assuming the characteristics of real money. Barringthe divergent opinions on whether permitted in Islamic law (that is/are halal)or forbidden in Islamic law (that is/are haram), and for which...

We build on existing literature and contemporary challenges to African development to assess the role of political stability in fighting corruption and boosting corruption-control in 53 African countries for the period 1996-2010. We postulate that on the one hand, an atmosphere of political...

Protests come as a way to show disagreement on issues that concern the public or a group of people imposed on them by authorities in power. Government’s purpose is to regulate the country, and this however should be done with balance. There is an increase in the number of in protests in South...

Nationalism in China emerged through historical experiences of greatness and humiliation. Until the 19th century, the Chinese were proud of its civilization and considered themselves as the centre of the world. Humiliation in the wars with Britain and Japan created new feelings of nationalism in...

Policymakers often justify border hardening as a response to insecurity. However, evidence for security-based explanations of border fortification is limited. Instead, research points to political economy drivers like cross-border income inequality, migration, and populism. I argue that these...

China’s development model challenges the approaches of traditional, Western donors like the World Bank. We argue that both aim at stability, but differ in the norms propagated to achieve that. Using fixed effects and IV estimations, we analyze a broad range of subnational stability measures in...

This paper shows how colonial powers permanently shaped the pattern of Chinese cities through the establishment of Concessions - foreign enclaves within Chinese cities. Based on a sample of 130 city districts within 10 Chinese cities, we find that districts with Concessions have higher land...

What makes elites developmental instead of predatory? We argue that Mozambique's elite was developmental at independence 35 years ago. With pressure and encouragement from international forces, it became predatory. It has now partly returned to its developmental roots and is trying to use the...