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October 7, 2009
| Author: | Anthony W. Gambino |
|---|
This module features teaching notes by Independent Consultant for International Development and Foreign Policy Anthony W. Gambino, author of Congo: Securing Peace, Sustaining Progress, along with other resources to supplement the text. This Council Special Report addresses the country’s social, economic, and security challenges and recommends two priorities for U.S. policy: combating insecurity in the east and promoting sustainable development.
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Academic Modules—featuring teaching notes by the authors of CFR publications—are designed to assist educators in creating or supplementing a course syllabus. The modules are customized packages built around a primary CFR text, such as a book or report, and include teaching notes; additional readings; video, audio, and transcripts of CFR meetings; Foreign Affairs articles; and other online resources. Use of these modules is free of charge. They may be used in part or in their entirety.
October 2008
Council Special Report No. 40
This report lays out a thoughtful agenda for U.S. policy toward the Democratic Republic of Congo, arguing that what happens there should matter to the United States—for humanitarian reasons as well as economic and strategic ones.
October 17, 2007
An interactive map examining conflict zones on the African continent.
Updated: September 1, 2009
The African Union succeeded the old Organization for African Unity (OAU) in 2002. Since then, the new institution has struggled to reform governing bodies inherited from the OAU while shouldering challenging new peacekeeping missions.
December 5, 2008
The African Growth and Opportunity Act has boosted U.S.-Africa trade and is viewed favorably by economists. But experts say African states must build trade capacity to benefit fully.
Updated: July 24, 2008
The International Criminal Court has sparked controversy with its case selection and pursuit of justice in Uganda and Sudan.
June 6, 2008
Rising global energy demands have caused China to turn to Africa as a major supplier of oil. But Western states still make the vast majority of African investments and remain highly influential.
May 3, 2007
The creation of a new U.S. military command for Africa signals the continent’s growing strategic importance and its many development challenges.
February 16, 2007
The process of disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) of former combatants features in most of Africa’s post-conflict reconstruction programs. Though DDR programs have improved, problems with reintegration persist.
Updated: August 21, 2006
On July 30, the Democratic Republic of the Congo will hold its first multiparty presidential and parliamentary elections in four decades. Many hope this will be the country’s first fully democratic election, but a host of challenges—including infrastructure, security, and communication—have experts hoping the Congolese people will merely accept the election’s results.
September 2007
From Mugabe’s Zimbabwe to conflict in the Horn, Africa has moved off the back burner of U.S. foreign policy. To address the growing importance of this region, the Council on Foreign Relations and Foreign Affairs, the Council’s flagship magazine, present Beyond Humanitarianism, a citizen’s guide to deconstructing the complex issues and conflicts on the African continent and clarifying what’s at stake for the United States in Africa’s future.
December 2007
Over the course of thirteen months, delegates from Africa, China, and the United States met three times in an effort to identify strategies of cooperation among their respective nations with the goal of accelerating economic development in Africa. This overview describes why the Trilateral Dialogue was established, how it was implemented, and what it achieved.
January 2006
Task Force Report No. 56
This Council-sponsored Independent Task Force finds that Africa is of growing strategic importance to the United States in addition to being an important humanitarian concern. In a world where economic opportunity, security threats, disease, and even support for democracy transcend borders, a policy based on humanitarian concerns alone serves neither U.S. interests, nor Africa’s. Furthermore, the Task Force finds that critical humanitarian interests would be better served by a more comprehensive U.S. approach toward Africa; nor is it valid to treat Africa more as an object of charity than a diverse continent with partners the United States can work with to advance shared objectives.
May/June 2008
Summary
Although the war in Congo officially ended in 2003, two million people have died since. One of the reasons is that the international community's peacekeeping efforts there have not focused on the local grievances in eastern Congo, especially those over land, that are fueling much of the broader tensions. Until they do, the nation's security and that of the wider Great Lakes region will remain uncertain.
September/October 2005
Summary
Past attempts to fix failed states in Africa have gone nowhere for similar reasons: they have tried to restore good governance to places that have never enjoyed it in the first place. A radical rethinking is needed; in the hardest cases, international trusteeships offer the best chance for success.
July/August 2004
Summary
Poor leadership has been the depressing norm in Africa for decades. But as a bold new initiative by a group of past and present African leaders takes off, good governance may finally come to the continent.
July/August 2000
Summary
Despite conflict resolution elsewhere, war still rages unchecked in Africa. But the continent is too important to ignore, so new solutions are needed. The best approach would be to prevent wars before they begin -- and the way to do that is for the West to work closely with democratic partners in the region. South Africa is the key to any long-term peacekeeping plan for Africa. Working closely with the United States, Africa's leading democracy can help distribute aid and spread the liberal values that will give the continent a real chance for peace.
April 24, 2009
This strategic paper published by the Enough Project offers a comprehensive strategy to end the trade of Congo's conflict minerals.
March 15, 2009
Colonel Stephen Mariano and Major Charles O'Brian say the Department of Defense must "further develop other smart power concepts."
March 13, 2009
Daniel Volman and William Minter write about what shaping a new U.S. security policy toward Africa requires.
January 13, 2009
John Prendergast and John Norris identify necessary prerogatives for the Obama administration regarding Africa, and encourage a dramatic refashioning of American policy in the region.
January 13, 2009
Alex de Waal asserts that success in international peace engagement requires three components: a normative agreement, improvement in human security, and an elite bargain.
September 2008
This National Bureau of Economic Research study addresses the effectiveness of Western approaches towards giving aid to Africa.
October 31, 2007
Oxfam paired up with a couple other agencies to calculate the total economic impact of armed conflict in Africa since 1990. They estimate the cost to be about $300 bn, which is roughly equal to the amount of foreign aid that poured into the continent over the same period.
August 5, 2009
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's seven-nation trip to Africa will highlight U.S. security concerns from Somalia to Nigeria and expand on efforts to engage leading African states on governance and trade issues.
April 1, 2009
Mo Ibrahim, a Sudanese businessman who promotes good governance and entrepreneurship in Africa, says foreign investors, whether they are corporations, funds, or donor nations, must take the lead in bringing transparency and accountability to Africa's government and business sectors.
January 16, 2009
Two Africa experts urge the incoming Obama administration to focus on resolving Africa's disastrous conflicts, and finding a way to sustain development on the continent.
October 31, 2008
Anthony Gambino, an expert on the Democratic Republic of Congo, discusses the recent escalation in conflict in eastern Congo and the necessity of training a professional Congolese army.
October 9, 2008
Rebecca Feeley, a researcher for the ENOUGH Project based in eastern Congo, discusses continuing conflict in the country and the motives of its most powerful rebel group.
June 27, 2008
Paul Collier, an economist and author of The Bottom Billion, discusses five steps to sustainable resource management in Africa.
May 22, 2008
General William Ward, head of U.S. Africa Command, discusses the new military command's efforts to define its strategic approach in Africa.
January 24, 2008
Mauro de Lorenzo, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, discusses the roots of the conflict in Eastern Congo and what is needed to resolve it.
May 16, 2007
Two members of the Africa Command transition team, Rear Admiral Robert T. Moeller and Ambassador Robert G. Loftis, discuss the Pentagon's new military command for Africa.
October 25, 2006
Jason Stearns of the International Crisis Group discusses the second-round presidential elections in Congo and the role the international community should take in the country going forward.
April 21, 2009
July 17, 2007
January 29, 2009
Statement
Author: Susan E. Rice
May 2006–October 2009
UN Secretary-General Report
2009
Book
Author: Paul Collier
2008
World Bank Report
2007
Book
Author: Paul Collier
Website
1998–2009
Website
1997–2009
Website
Securing Peace in the Congo
| Speaker: | Anthony W. Gambino, Independent Consultant for International Development and Foreign Policy; Former USAID Mission Director, Democratic Republic of the Congo |
|---|---|
| Presider: | Irina A. Faskianos, Vice President, National Program & Outreach, Council on Foreign Relations |
Audio: Academic Conference Call: Securing Peace in the Congo (Audio)
Global Health Roundtable: Is Aid Dead? A Discussion with Dambisa Moyo on Foreign Aid and Development
Related Project: Global Health Roundtable Series
| Speaker: | Dambisa Moyo, Author, "Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa" |
|---|---|
| Presider: | Peter Navario, Fellow for Global Health, Council on Foreign Relations |
In her recently released book, Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How There is a Better Way for Africa, Moyo offers a fresh critique of international development aid from an African perspective. Moyo's arguments for a new approach to African development are informed by her unique combination of Western education, professional experience at the World Bank and Goldman Sachs, and Zambian heritage.
Audio: Is Aid Dead? A Discussion with Dambisa Moyo on Foreign Aid and Development (Audio)
Video: Is Aid Dead? A Discussion with Dambisa Moyo on Foreign Aid and Development (Video)
This meeting is on the record.
Africa Policy Studies Roundtable: A Diamond in the Rough-The Role of the Private Sector in Sustainable Development in Africa
Related Project: Africa Policy Studies Roundtable
| Presider: | Princeton N. Lyman, Adjunct Senior Fellows for Africa, Council on Foreign Relations |
|---|---|
| Speaker: | Gareth Penny, Managing Director, De Beers |
Transcript: A Diamond in the Rough: The Role of the Private Sector in Sustainable Development in Africa [Rush Transcript; Federal News Service]
Audio: A Diamond in the Rough: The Role of the Private Sector in Sustainable Development in Africa (Audio)
Video: A Diamond in the Rough: The Role of the Private Sector in Sustainable Development in Africa (Video)
Reforming U.S. Foreign Aid
| Speakers: | Mary K. Bush, Preident, Bush International; Chair, The HELP Commission |
|---|---|
| Leo J. Hindery, Managing Director, InterMedia Partners, LP; Member, The HELP Commission | |
| James A. Harmon, Chairman, Harmon & Co.; Former President and Chairman, Export-Import Bank of the United States | |
| Presider: | Nicholas D. Kristof, Columnist, The New York Times |
Please join a discussion led by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, with two representatives of the HELP Commission (Helping to Enhance the Livelihood of People Around the Globe) and the former president and chairman of the Export-Import Bank, on the reforms needed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of U.S. foreign aid. The HELP Commission was established by the U.S. Congress to determine how to achieve these goals, and our panel will review its current work as well as additional measures that can be taken to improve U.S. foreign assistance programs.
Transcript: Reforming U.S. Foreign Aid [Rush Transcript; Federal News Service]
Audio: Reforming U.S. Foreign Aid (Audio)
Video: Reforming U.S. Foreign Aid (Video)
This meeting is on the record.
Africa: Beyond Humanitarianism
| Speakers: | Michelle D. Gavin, International Affairs Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations |
|---|---|
| Princeton N. Lyman, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Studies, Council on Foreign Relations; Coeditor, Beyond Humanitarianism | |
| Presider: | Irina A. Faskianos, Vice President, National Program & Outreach, Council on Foreign Relations |
12:00 to 1:00 p.m. (ET)
This meeting is on the record.
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Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies— produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine this nation’s adversity-driven culture to answer this question and offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.
In Forces of Fortune, Vali Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.
In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.
Complete list of CFR Books
The report of this bipartisan Task Force of distinguished leaders and experts represents a strong consensus on the importance of repairing America's immigration policy. It makes the case that maintaining America's political and economic leadership depends on attracting talented and hard-working immigrants, and on securing the country's borders in a smart, effective, and humane way.
This report finds that nuclear weapons will remain a fundamental element of U.S. national security in the near term, and makes recommendations on how to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. deterrent nuclear force, prevent nuclear terrorism, and strengthen the nuclear nonproliferation regime.
About Independent Task Forces at CFR
Complete list of Task Force reports
Identifying international threats and acting on them may be the most difficult job for U.S. policymakers. This report
provides an actionable road map for managing international threats before they erupt into crises and makes a strong case that preventive action is not a luxury but a necessity.
For more than a decade, the United States has mostly watched from the sidelines as Asian countries organize themselves into an alphabet soup of new multilateral groups. In this report, the authors review the relationship between pan-Asian and trans-Pacific institutions and suggest policy guidelines for a new U.S. approach to this new Asian landscape.
Complete list of Council Special Reports
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