Articles by RAS Director Richard Dowden. To read Richard's RAS Africa blog click here

After Mandela

Published: January 2012, The Spectator

The Scramble for Africa

Published: September 2011, The Folio Society Magazine

The Republic of South Sudan – the roadmap to independence

Published: 8th July, 2011, The Guardian

Not a great start for President Jonathan

Published: 22nd June, 2011, Prospect

Nigeria's president fights for survival as nation turns against party of power

Published: 15th April, 2011, The Guardian

Bloodshed on the road to Ivory Coast presidency puts long-term peace at risk

Published: 5th April, 2011, The Guardian

The Tenth Parallel

Review of The Tenth Parallel: dispatches from the faultline between Christianity and Islam by Eliza Griswold

Published: 19th Feb, 2011, Financial Times

Ivory Coast's descent into madness

Published: 2nd Jan, 2011, The Observer

Good Luck Nigeria

Published: 22nd Sept, 2010, Prospect

Africa: the first 50 years

Published: 18 Sept, 2010, AlJAzeera

Get real, Bob - buying guns might have been better than buying food
Published: 14 March 2010, Mail on Sunday

Ordinary Nigerians might do better without a government at all
Published: 25 February 2010, The Independent

The day they nearly ditched Nelson Mandela
Published: 12 February 2010, The Times Online

Corruption is the killer that we all ignore
Published: 8 February 2010, The Times

Mandela's 'Little Brother' - The Voice of Africa
Published: 28 January 2010, Evening Standard

In Africa they won't feel lonesome tonight Published: 29 December 2009, The Times Online

Africa's Future
Published: November 2009

Why Africa welcomes the "new colonialism"

Published: 9 November 2009, Times Online

Lives on the line

Published: 23 July 2009, New Statesman

Fine words, but will Africa listen?

Published: 13 July 2009, The Independent'

We want him to rule all African countries' Published: 11 July 2009, The Independent

Obama’s direct line to the heart of Africa
Published: 10 July 2009, The Timesonline

Dr Tajudeen Abdul Raheem 1956 – 2009

Published: 25 May 2009

Jacob Zuma - a question of competence not conscience The man likely to become South Africa's president must realise his limitations

Published: 23 April 2009

Helping Africa break free

Published: March 2009

Chinua Achebe: A Hero Returns

Published: 18 February 2009
Listen to the audio here

Britain Should Cease Its One-Sided Support Of Rwanda: If Kagame Doesn't Rein In Nkunda, We Should Tell Him We Won't Fund Him

Published: 15 December 2008

How Will the Financial Crisis Affect Africa?
(Published in RAS website in October, 2008)

Future Uncertain As Curtain Falls on South Africa's Julius Caesar - Despite Often Quirky Views, Thabo Mbeki His Country Economically Strong. Will His Successor Endanger That Legacy?

Published: 23 September 2008

Zimbabwe: How can sworn enemies work together? The Harare deal may break down but it could also become a model for Africa's future

Published: 13 September 2008

The Family: Africa's Blessing and Curse
Published:  31 August 2008

Africa's Leadership's Crisis
Published: 11 June 2008

Material Gains, an interview with Richard Dowden

Published: 2 June 2008

Governance in Africa: opportunities and threats
May 2008

Kenya: The Perfect Storm
Published: 1 January 2008

Analysis: African Chance. Transcript of a recorded documentary.
Broadcasted: 13 December 2007

Kenya's exiled champion
Published: 3 September 2007

The new statue in Parliament Square talks to its fellows
Published: 29 August 2007

Child kidnap is a worrying change of the rules

Published: 9 July 2007

Will Gordon Brown change Britain's policy on Africa?
Pubblished: 3 July 2007

Nigeria election
Pubblished: 27 April 2007

Opposition rejects Nigeria poll results
Pubblished: 24 April 2007

Nigerian poll mired in claims of vote-ripping, fraud and violence

Published: 23 April 2007

Nigeria's election sidesteps plight of poor
Published: 21 April 2007

Ruling party 'trying to rig Nigerian vote'
Published: 16 April 2007

New Nigeria seeks break with corrupt past
Published: 14 April 2007

Africa's Barometer
Published: 11 April 2007

Article on Slavery
Prospect, March 2007

End Game in Zimbabwe
Time Magazine, March 2007

Out of Africa
Prospect, January 2007

Catastrope in Somalia 

The Independent January 11 2007

This War in Africa Should not be Taking Place
The Independent, 27 December 2006

On offer: a huge prize in a land of poverty
Published: 26 October 2006

Out of Africa
Prospect, July 2006

G8 Gleneagles Commitments to Africa one year on
Evening Standard, June 27th 2006

How America brought peace to Somalia - by accident
The Independent, 21st June 2006

Court threatens to block cannibal cult's peace offer
The Times, May 18 2006

D-day for the 'new Mugabe' of Africa
The Observer, 19th February 2006

Thousands of child 'witches' turned on to the streets to starve
The Observer, 12th February 2006

In Search of Ugandan Democracy
opendemocracy.net, 6th December 2005

It's good to talk - even better to sell
New Statesman, 17th October 2005

You're History Riots, starvation and a coup. Whatever happened to those G8 promises on Africa?
The Independent, 10th August 2005

In Niger we see a cruel truth
The Times, July 28th 2005

Why we need to understand Africa
The Independent, Saturday 2nd July

If there was no aid to Africa
BBC Website, July 2005

Whats Right and Wrong with Africa?
The Independent, 1st June 2005

Review of BBC's Africa Season
The Times, June 2005

We've Got to Talk to Mugabe
Article for the Times, 16th May 2005

The Commisison for Africa - Paper for the Tswalu Dialogue
Based on a paper given at the Tswalu Dialogue Conference, April 2005

What now of Blair's Africa vision after Zimbabwe?
The Independent, 4th April 2005

Review: The state of Africa, A History of Fifty Years of Independence, Martin Meredith
Book review for the Spectator Magazine

One Small Step for Africa
The Times, 9th March 2005

Why Africa is the way it is
BBC Website, 9th March 2005

Reviews of Histories of the Hanged by David Anderson and Britain's Gulag by Caroline Elkins 
The Guardian, 5th February 2005

Can Gordon Save Africa?
The Observer, 9th January 2005

Removing the barriers to change: the role of the West in Africa
NRC Handelsblad, October 2004

Blair Study shows how West harms Africa
Reuters, Thursday 7th October 2004. By Tsegaye Tadesse in Addis with comments by Richard Dowden.

The State of the State: The past, present and future of the nation state in Africa
In the IPPR journal, New Economy, September 2004 - Volume 11 Issue 3

The Today Programme: Crisis in Darfur
24th July 2004

Darfur can best be resolved by Africans
The Independent, Monday 26th July 2004

What Africa wants has hit new depths: Survey shows half of those questioned believe world is going in wrong direction
The Guardian, 16th June 2004

Moi is accused of £2 billion diamond scam
The Sunday Times, 13th June 2004

Broken on the old battlelines drawn in the Saharan sands
The Guardian, 8th June 2004

Ten years on, the Rwandan Government may be sowing seeds of another genocide
The Times, 2nd April 2004

I have a sneaking regard for the 419 scammers' audacity
The Times, 18th December 2003

Zimbabwe's Commonwealth Suspension Extended
The Independent, 8th December 2003

Mugabe Hits Out At Racist Plot Against Zimbabwe
The Independent, 8th December 2003

See also Richard Dowden's website here and his Africa Blog on our website.