Professor of World Politics, SOAS, University of London
Stephen Chan was awarded an OBE for "services to Africa and higher education" in the summer of 2010, alongside receiving the 2010 Eminent Scholar in Global Development award of the International Studies Association.
Professor Chan has published 27 books on international relations and more than 200 articles and reviews in the academic and specialist press, as well as over 100 journalistic feature articles. His books include Robert Mugabe: A Life of Power and Violence, Kaunda and Southern Africa: Image and Reality in Foreign Policy, and Citizen of Africa: Conversations with Morgan Tsvangirai. His most recent work is The End of Certainty: Towards a New Internationalism.
He participated in the transition to independence of Zimbabwe, the reconstruction of Uganda after the fall of Idi Amin, and also advised and trained government ministries in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Kenya. He established a consortium that trained the Eritrean Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately before and after independence in 1993. He was also part of a consortium that trained the parliamentarians and ministers of post-Dergue Ethiopia from 1998-9. From 2006-7 he was a member of the Africa-China-US Trilateral Dialogue, an effort to establish a common set of principles to help govern the emerging trade wars involving the three continents.
Cyril Ramaphosa prepares to confront South Africa's bleak future
Dec 20, 2017 17:29 pm UTC| Insights & Views Politics
Among all the remarkable turns in African politics this year, one of the most momentous was Decembers ANC party congress in South Africa, where the party chose a new president: Cyril Ramaphosa, who narrowly bested...
Western leaders take their eyes off Africa at just the wrong moment
Jun 01, 2017 12:42 pm UTC| Insights & Views
Almost none of the Western worlds leaders have paid much attention to Africa in recent months. One exception was Frances newly-elected president, Emmanuel Macron, who visited Mali shortly after his inauguration. His trip...
Jacob Zuma's brazen venality may be exhausting even his ANC allies
Apr 03, 2017 13:08 pm UTC| Insights & Views Politics
After months of trying, South Africas President Zuma has at last decisively fired his finance minister, Pravin Gordhan. The move was met with huge disquiet within the ANC, and a predictably sharp drop in the value of the...
From Gabon to Zimbabwe, African presidents are under siege
Sep 03, 2016 10:05 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics Economy
Its sometimes democracy as we know it albeit with twists and turns but there is certainly a new appetite for political pluralism developing in Africa. This sometimes leads not only to change, but to deep division. In...
Zimbabwe's finance minister makes a doomed pitch to London's big businesses
Jul 05, 2016 18:03 pm UTC| Insights & Views Business
As British politics descended into a post-EU referendum melee of opportunism, betrayal, resignations, and votes of no confidence, the UK was in no position to lecture others on good governance. Fitting then, perhaps, that...
There’s an extra $1 billion on the table for NT schools. This could change lives if spent well
Political donations rules are finally in the spotlight – here’s what the government should do