Events

This workshop features a Visiting Senior Research Associate from the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP). Eugene Arnaud Yombo Sembe will speak on his research in progress. These CISSR sponsored workshops are presented in partnership with the Chicago Center on Democracy.

• • Topic: Decolonizing the production and translation of knowledge on governance and democracy in Africa: Evidence from Africa integrity indicators

Dr. Yombo Sembe received his PhD in political science from the University of Yaoumdé II in Cameroon. Dr. Yombo Sembe’s work concentrates on autocratic regimes in close succession in Africa. Conceptualized as “autocratic renewal”, this phenomenon describes the establishment of autocratic regimes following elections or recurrent illegitimate usurpations of power in Africa. During his CISSR residency, Dr. Yombo Sembe will be focusing his effort on a new book project about autocratic renewal in African contexts. Dr. Yombo Sembe’s published research argues that scholars analyzing the autocratic episodes in African democracies commit two main epistemological fallacies. The first is to consider a move forward within the postcolonial democratization journey of independent African states as a move backwards due to a Euro-centric bias in assessment; and the second is the tendency to interpret “normal” episodes of backsliding that could be observed in any democratic system as a particularly African phenomenon.