Dear Member

You are invited to attend a lecture: Shifting (geo)politics in Africa

by Prof Padraig Carmody, TCD at 2 pm on Tue 14 January 2025in the Haughton Lecture Theatre, Museum Building, TCD, and via Zoom

Shifting (geo)politics in Africa

A few major trends in African geopolitics stand out. Climate change is perhaps the biggest challenge facing the continent in the future, as shown by the huge destructive power of cyclone Idai in Southern Africa in 2019. Climate change threatens catastrophes such as “day zero” in Cape Town, a date  when municipal water taps were due to run dry (narrowly avoided as a result of rain), although some argue this was as much a financial crisis as a potential “natural disaster”. The shrinkage of Lake Chad in recent decades by as much as 90% and associated increases in poverty have likewise provided fertile ground for conflict, as witnessed in the emergence of Boko Haram, although police brutality and repression, amongst other factors have also played a role in their emergence. This talk will explore these issues and others such as the rising prominence of Russia and China on the continent and how these are mediated and shaped by African actors and with what potential implications.

Pádraig Carmody is Professor in Geography at Trinity College, the University of Dublin where he did his undergraduate and masters work and is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg. His Ph.D. is from the University of Minnesota in the US, where after graduation he also taught at the University of Vermont. At TCD he directs the Masters in Development Practice. His research centres on the political economy of globalisation in Africa and he has published in journals such as European Journal of Development Research, Review of African Political Economy, Economic Geography and World Development.