The conference is open to the public and begins on Thursday, May 8, at 2:00pm (meet and greet) in Warren Hall, B75. Presentations will resume on Friday, May 9th at 9:00a.m. in the same location.
This conference is hosted by the Institute for African Development (Einaudi Center for International Studies), Department of Government, College of Arts and Sciences, and the Center on Global Democracy (Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy).
2025 Symposium Schedule - Thursday, May 8, 2025 B75 Warren Hall
2:00pm Meet and Greet (Lunch)
3:00 pm General Welcome - Jill Frank, President White Professor of History and Political Science and the Robert J. Katz Chair, Department of Government, Cornell Michele van de Walle, Spouse of Nicolas van de Walle
3:30 pm–5:00 pm. Remembering Nicolas van de Walle: Research, Reflections, and Intellectual Currents - Moderator: Muna Ndulo, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of International and Comparative Law, Professor, Cornell Law School
Speakers: Ron Herring, Professor Emeritus, Government, Cornell; Peter Katzenstein, Walter S. Carpenter, Jr Professor of International Studies, Professor, Government, Cornell; Ellen Lust, John S. Knight Professor International Studies, Director, Einaudi Center, and professor, Brooks School of Public Policy and Department of Government; Siba Grovogui, Professor, Africana Studies, Cornell; Tom Pepinsky, Walter F. LaFeber Professor of Government and Public Policy, Cornell; Rachel Beatty Riedl, Peggy J. Koenig ’78 Director of the Center on Global Democracy, Brooks School of Public Policy, and Professor, Government, Cornell
Friday, May 9, 2025 B75 Warren Hall
8:30 am–9 am: Breakfast
9:00 am–9:30 Panel 1: Reflections and Research Agendas on Politics & Institutions -Val Bunce, Aaron Binenkorb Professor of International Studies and Professor, Government, Cornell and Lise Rakner, Professor of Political Science, Government, University of Bergen
9:30 - 10:45 am. Panel II: Graduate Student Panel - Moderator: Pierre Englebert, H. Russell Smith Professor of International Relations and Professor of Politics, Pomona College
Speakers: Radwa Saad, Africana Studies and Research Center, Cornell; Lazare Kovo, Political Economy of Development, Emory University; Joseph Lasky, Government, Cornell; Lois Matthews, Government, Cornell; Samuel Danilola, Economics, University of Houston; and Danielle Chiburuoma Obisie-Orlu, Government, Cornell
11:00 am–12:15 pm: Panel III: Representation, Redistribution, and Socialization in Africa - Moderator: Prisca Jost Brenneis, Postdoc, Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy Center on Global Democracy, Governance and Local Development Institute (GLD, Cornell)
Speakers and Presentation Titles: Mamoudou Gazibo, Professor of Political Science, Université de Montréal- Democracy as Common Good and the Role of Institutional Commoners: Regime Breakdown and Resilience in Niger and Senegal; Martha Wilfahrt, Assistant Professor, Political Science at the Univ of California, Berkeley - A Precolonial Paradox? Rethinking Political Centralization and its Legacies; Natalie Letsa, Wick Cary Assistant Professor of Political Economy in the Department of International and Area Studies, University of Oklahoma Partisanship and Political Socialization in Africa's electoral autocracies; O’Brien Kaaba, Lecturer, University of Zambia and Paul Friesen, Research Associate, Center on Global Democracy, Cornell University -Digitization of Elections in Africa and its Implications on Adjudication of Disputed Presidential Elections
1:00pm -2:15pm Panel IV: Political Economy in Africa - Moderator: Rachel Bezner Kerr, Professor, Global Development, and Director, Institute for African Development
Speakers and Presentation Titles: Jaimie Bleck, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame & Lauren Honig, Associate Professor of Political Science at Boston College - The Political Determinants of Agricultural Policy in the Sahel: Comparing State Apparatus and Urban Bias Frameworks in the 21st Century; Lindsey Pruett, Assistant Professor, Political Science Department, Louisiana State University - Public Opinion and Senegal’s Armée-Nation: Preferences on Military Involvement in Economic Development Projects; Grieve Chelwa, Associate Professor of Political Economy, The Africa Institute External Forces and Zambia’s Permanent Debt Crisis
2:30pm – 4:15pm Panel V: Parties & Parliaments in Africa - Moderator: Paul Friesen, Research Associate, Cornell University
Speakers and Presentation Titles: Nicholas Kerr, Associate Professor of Comparative Politics, Department of Political Science, University of Florida. - Assessing the Strategic Motivations of Parliamentary Post-Election Petitions in Africa: Evidence from Nigeria; Erin Hern, Associate Professor, Political Science, Maxwell School, Syracuse University - Partisanship, Party Systems, and Understandings of Democracy across Africa; Michael Wahman, Associate Professor of Political Science at Michigan State University - Cheerleaders for Autocracy: Parliamentary Speech Making During Democratic Backsliding in Malawi and Zambia
Closing Remarks
Organizers: Rachel Beatty Riedl, Peggy J. Koenig '78 Director of the Center on Global Democracy (Brooks School of Public Policy) and Professor, Government; Rachel Bezner Kerr, Director, Institute for African Development, and Professor, Global Development; Sabrina Karim, Associate Professor, Department of Government; Muna Ndulo, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of International & Comparative Law, Cornell Law School; and, Oumar Ba, Assistant Professor, Government, Cornell
Our cherished friend and colleague Nic van de Walle has shaped the field of political science, and African politics in particular, in substantial and important ways. His insights into the politics of economic policy making and “permanent crisis”, the driving forces of regime dynamics, electoral politics, and democratic transitions continue to underpin the foundations of comparative politics. Beyond his written work, Nic’s legacy is firmly anchored in how he treated his fellow scholars, at home at Cornell, and around the world. His kindness, generosity of spirit, intellectual curiosity, and joy in the ongoing process of learning from others - these are the characteristics that define him to so many who were lucky enough to know him and interact with him. He has served as a mentor to hundreds: offering support, incisive feedback, advice, and conversation to think through the politics of our time. We honor him as a brilliant scholar, and a gentle soul who lifted others up and made our collective humanity richer.
Nic is perhaps best known for his foundational books in two major subfields of the discipline: electoral politics and political economy. Democratic Experiments in Africa: Regime Transitions in Comparative Perspective, co-authored with Michael Bratton and published in 1997, produced a roadmap for understanding electoral politics in Africa—a field that has expanded dramatically in the ensuing 20 years. The book has been cited nearly 4,000 times and is a core text for both undergraduate and graduate courses in African politics. In 2001, Nic published African Economies and the Politics of Permanent Crisis, 1979-1999, a book that went on to heavily influence the subfield of political economy in its analysis of the strengths as well as limitations of neopatrimonial rule in Africa. This book is arguably the most important text for understanding the structural adjustment period of African political history. Additionally, his 2014 co-edited volume with Muna Ndulo on Problems, Promises, and Paradoxes of Aid expounds on the paradoxes of economic aid and examines the evolving and varied approaches by presenting a comprehensive assessment on its impact on development on the African continent.
The implications of these findings for political accountability, citizen engagement, improved service delivery, and development across Africa set a research agenda for the next generation that this conference will take up. We welcome colleagues to submit proposals on these core themes of African political economy, regimes, and modes of electoral and social participation and contestation. We also welcome the extension of these foundational principles into new domains that they shine light on, but did not take up directly, such as the security challenges and roles of international organizations. The papers should not serve as a review of van de Walle’s works, but rather demonstrate what this foundation provides to catalyze new theoretical, conceptual, and empirical contributions to these core areas of African politics.
Note that there will be a half-day mini-conference, co-organized by colleagues at Sciences Po, on the Sahelian conflicts with a focus on the impacts on people and communities. We hope that some scholars may decide to attend both conferences. Please contact Rachel Beatty Riedl rbeattyriedl@cornell.edu if you are interested in participating in this pre-conference event.
Credits:
UN