Experts say inconsistency in the African Union’s responses to conflict on the continent has muted the body’s efficiency

The United Nations recently condemned coups in Mali in West Africa and Myanmar in Southeast Asia — and called for regional organizations ECOWAS and ASEAN to manage the crises. In May, Mali, a member of the Economic Community of West Africa, experienced its second coup in 18 months. And the civilian government of Myanmar, a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, was overthrown in February.

As the world reckons with the covid-19 pandemic, we are learning firsthand how health epidemics often reveal underlying social, political and economic tensions in a society. In his latest book, “The Political Life of an Epidemic,” offers a vivid and rigorous account of the causes and consequences of Zimbabwe’s 2008-2009 cholera outbreak.

On April 11, after months of intensifying street protests, Sudan’s military ousted president Omar Hassan al-Bashir after nearly 30 years in power. The African Union, like other international bodies, responded by expressing dismay at the unconstitutional overthrow while calling for a calm and restrained transition to civilian, democratic rule.

On Sunday, President Trump said the United States had “foolishly” been funding the World Health Organization, which “missed every single call.” Two weeks ago, Trump announced his administration would temporarily halt U.S. funding for the WHO, pending a review of its actions related to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

How can ECOWAS and the African Union combat ongoing coups in Mali and Burkina Faso? We spoke with international relations scholar Emmanuel Balogun about the tools that ECOWAS and the AU have at their disposal to fight coups and about the obstacles the intergovernmental agencies will face in trying to use them.

After months of protests, the Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir was removed from office on 11th April by a military coup. Initially there were celebrations, but weeks later, with no clear plan for the military to hand over power to a civilian government many in the country are starting to worry whether their victory has been lost. So is the country heading towards democracy or another autocratic regime?

Ebola is back — and a threat to people in Congo. In late August, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the latest Ebola outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri provinces has yet to stabilize, with 90 people dead and at least 130 probable or confirmed cases.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic had claimed over one million lives globally by late 2020, Africa had avoided a massive outbreak. Patterson and Balogun analyze pandemic responses by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and various states collaborating with civil society.

Acquiring Agency and Institutional Change in the West African Health Organisation.

The study of regionalism has experienced numerous transformations and focal points. Comparative regionalism has emerged as the next wave of scholarship on regional cooperation and integration in international relations.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) both recently adopted and institutionalized the norm of people-centric governance.