By Redie Bereketeab, Associate Professor of Sociology and Senior Researcher, The Nordic Africa Institute
Ethiopia’s general election on 1 June 2026 will take place amid armed conflicts and political fragmentation. This has raised questions over voter participation and legitimacy and the future of the country’s multi-ethnic federal system. Ethiopia is Africa’s second most populous country and a key regional…
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By Alemayehu Fentaw Weldemariam, Ph.D. Fellow, Center for Constitutional Democracy, Indiana University
Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed has revived debate over whether the country should impose term limits on its head of government. Speaking before the National Dialogue Commission in May 2026 – just weeks before national elections – he said executive power should be “limited by law”. He suggested the issue could form part of wider constitutional reform that many…
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By Bizuneh Yimenu, Lecturer in Comparative Politics, Queen's University Belfast
The upcoming elections are arguably among the least politically competitive Ethiopia has experienced since the introduction of multiparty elections in the 1990s.
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Burkina Faso soldiers patrol aboard a pickup truck on the road from Dori to the Goudebo refugee camp, on February 3, 2020. © 2020 OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT/AFP via Getty Images The Burkina Faso junta’s suspension of the country’s largest student union is the latest in a series of government crackdowns on freedoms of association and expression.On May 26, the minister of territorial administration signed a decree suspending the activities of the General Union for Burkina Students (L'union générale des étudiants burkinabè, UGEB) for a renewable period of three months…
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By Xosé López-García, Periodismo digital, comunicación digital, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
Cristian Augusto Gonzalez Arias, Investigador, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
What happens to language when a growing amount of text published in the press, online and on social media is written by machines? This question is not just important for the profession of journalism – it also has an impact on the richness of the language we all use to comprehend, describe and discuss reality itself.
Historically, the press has been a space where public language grows and becomes richer. It is not, of course, the only driver of linguistic change, but it is one of the fields where new or emerging…
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By Emmanuel Destenay, Research Fellow, Sorbonne Université
During and after WWI, thousands of American women acted as mothers for displaced French children. A war studies research fellow weighs in with considerations for teaching this vital, often overlooked part of transatlantic wartime history.
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By Ignat Kulkov, Researcher, EDHEC Business School
René Rohrbeck, Professor of Strategy, Director EDHEC Chair for Foresight, Innovation and Transformation, EDHEC Business School
The housing shortage is a major concern for many EU citizens. A foresight study by more than 30 experts examines four ways affordable, low-carbon homes could emerge by 2040.
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By Mong Palatino
"The Digital Nation is a new way to fight, adapt and protect our identity and sovereignty. It is about taking control, shaping our future and keeping our roots alive."
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By Martin Zaki, Associate Research Fellow in Biomaterials, Deakin University
Alessandra Sutti, Associate Professor, Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University
“Biodegradable” has become one of the most reassuring words in modern packaging. It appears on coffee cups, shopping bags and food containers, implying a promise: this product is better for the environment because nature will eventually take care of it.
However, biodegradability is not a simple yes-or-no property. It exists in shades, which we can measure.
Biodegradation is a complex process. Microbes and molecules present in an environment such as soil attack a material and digest it, much like what happens to food in our gut.
A material is typically defined…
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By Mattia Bessone, Post Doc, Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
The meat of wild animals, or wild meat, is a big part of the diets of millions of people in central Africa.
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