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2008 News & Documentary Emmy Award winner, published on CFR.org:
October 1, 2007
Originally published on CFR.org: Introduction Due to efforts by nongovernmental groups such as the Save Darfur Coalition and celebrities like the Irish rock star Bono, pressure to address sub-Saharan Africa’s high poverty levels has grown exponentially in recent years. Much of this attention continues to focus on rural populations: Prominent economists and policymakers aim to […]
September 1, 2007
Originally published in Bookforum: As I write this, I’m humming the opening bars of Schumann’s Papillons (1829–31), one of his earliest compositions for piano, a piece I haven’t played, let alone heard, in at least six years. I can recall these notes because I remember the visceral pleasure of playing an ascending scale in octaves, […]
June 18, 2007
Originally published on CFR.org: Introduction In May 2006, the Sudanese government signed a peace agreement with one of the rebel groups in Sudan’s western Darfur region. Yet one year later, the agreement is seen as a failure. Security has deteriorated and rebel groups have proliferated. International efforts have focused on pressing Khartoum to accept the […]
May 3, 2007
Originally published on CFR.org: Introduction In February 2007, President Bush announced the creation of a unified military command for Africa. This puts the continent on par, in the Pentagon’s eyes and command structure, with the Pacific Rim (Pacific Command), Europe (European Command), Latin America (Southern Command), the Middle East (Central Command), and North America (Northern […]
April 12, 2007
Originally published on CFR.org: Introduction As Africa’s most populous country, oil-rich Nigeria ranks with South Africa as one of the most influential countries on the continent. Since its return to democracy in 1999, Nigeria has made some progress on strengthening government institutions and fighting the corruption engendered by its oil wealth. But political violence ahead […]
March 22, 2007
Originally published on CFR.org: Introduction The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, launched itself onto the international stage in January 2006 by claiming responsibility for the capture of four foreign oil workers. Since then, the group’s attacks on oil pipelines and kidnappings have reduced oil output in the Niger Delta by […]
February 17, 2007
Originally published on CFR.org: Introduction The proliferation of UN peacekeeping operations coincides with an increase in UN-led programs to disarm and disband warring parties, as well as reintegrate ex-combatants into civilian life. “Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration,” or DDR programs as they are known to practitioners, have featured in post-conflict reconstruction from Afghanistan to Haiti. But […]
October 1, 2006
Originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle: It is 1956 in Sierra Leone. Serah, a teenager, volunteers to serve as an officer at a polling station during the presidential election. With an hour left to go, only “two votes lay in the cavern of the ballot box, like visitors in an empty church.” She decides […]
September 24, 2006
Originally published in Newsday: In The Kidney-Shaped Stone That Moves Every Day, one of the stories in Haruki Murakami’s new collection, Junpei, a short-story writer, falls in love with an older woman named Kirie. She seems to reciprocate, but one day he calls her and her phone has been disconnected. Thus far, this is familiar […]
Stephanie Hanson 
December 1, 2007
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