Douglas Yates

Oxford University Press has recently published Douglas Yates's article on "Democracy and Authoritarianism in Sub-Saharan Africa" in the Political Science section of the Oxford Bibliographies Collection. In his article, Professor Yates provided some of the most cited authors, journals, and websites on democratic transition, democratic consolidation, political parties, elections, public opinion, civil society, and social movements in the literature on democratization in Africa as well as traditional rulers, personal rule, one-party regimes, military rule, ethnic politics, and françafrique in the literature on African authoritarianism.

Rick Valelly, editor-in-chief of the Oxford Bibliographies Political Science series, writes about Professor Yates's article: "This is a very comprehensive, lively and genuinely engaging entry. The discussion of Françafrique is among many elements that distinguish it and that will strike readers as particularly fresh and unusual; another is the surprising fact of initial and rapid adoption of democracy during the Third Wave. Yet another is the discussion of the Afrobarometer data. The attention to the leaders in the field and the conceptual problems with which they have wrestled will encourage new entrants into this important area of scholarship. I'm certain, too, that policymakers will find this entry exceptionally valuable".

See preview of Douglas Yates's article: "Democracy and Authoritarianism in Sub-Saharan Africa"

The Oxford Bibliographies Collection was developed cooperatively with scholars worldwide and offers exclusive, authoritative research guides across a variety of subjects.

See more information on the Oxford Bibliographies Collection Political Science Series

Professor Douglas Yates just published his fifth book: The Scramble for African Oil: Oppression, Corruption and War for Control of Africa's Natural Resources. The book was released by London’s Pluto Press on January 17^th, 2012.

The Scramble for African Oil demonstrates how the international demand for oil contributes to the chronic political, economic and security problems plaguing Africa. Dougls Yates approches this topic in ten separate discussions, such as the domination by multinational corporations, anti-corruption initiatives by the international community, censorship of journalists and intellectuals, and oppression by praetorian regimes and terror. The book features country case studies including the Congo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Angola, Chad, Sao Tome, Equatorial Guinea, and Sudan.

Professor Michael Watts of UC Berkeley says: “Yates brilliantly scales the walls of the oil fortress in Africa and shines a light into the complex politics - local, national and global - of the oil and gas industry and offers some insight into possible routes out of the swamp of failed oil development."

The Scramble for African Oil is also described by Professor Michael Klare of Hampshire College in Massachusetts, author of Resource Wars, as "Essential reading for anyone seeking an understanding of the 'resource curse', the global exploitation of Africa's resources and the troubled state of African politics. Drawing on a detailed knowledge of the region, Douglas Yates does a remarkable job of exposing the predatory forces responsible for the continuing impoverishment of Africa's oil states - while also celebrating those heroic figures who have resisted the onslaught."

For the past twenty years, Professor Yates has been researching, writing, publishing and doing activism on the politics of the international oil industry, and more specifically on the question of oil dependency on the African continent. He has been a consultant for governmental and non-governmental organizations including the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Defense, the Catholic Relief Services, and the British Chatham House, among others.

See more information here

See The Scramble for African Oil on the Pluto Press website

On November 16th, Professor Douglas Yates participated in a one-day conference on "Oil, Politics and Africa" organized by Chatham House (the British Royal Institute of International Affairs) and the African Studies Centre at Coventry University (UK). This conference examined current government, NGO and academic thinking on oil and gas production in Sub-Saharan Africa and how oil companies, governments and NGOs can use Africa's oil riches to enhance development and reduce poverty.

Professor Yates's presentation was part of a panel on "Resolving Governance Challenges". Yates focused on solutions to the "oil curse" that affects African and other oil-rich countries, as had been discussed by, among other specialists on the topic, former British Minister of Cooperation Claire Short, Chatham House's Nick Shaxson, Oxfam's Ian Gary, and Ricardo Soares de Oliveira from Oxford University.

"This was a particularly interesting conference because it was policy-oriented, that is it was designed to shape international governance initiatives such as the 'Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative' and 'Publish What You Pay'. The participation of two major actors of the world oil industry, Shell and Tullow Oil, ensured a lively debate. I offered five solutions: combating corruption, investing oil revenues in social development, direct distribution of oil revenues to the people, boycotting african oil, and, finally, stopping our own oil consumption. The last is the only solution that will really work."

See Conference Program

See Chatham House Website and Coventry University's African Studies Centre Website

On October 17th, Professor Douglas Yates was interviewed on Bloomberg TV about the nomination of Socialist candidate François Hollande to challenge President and probable candidate Nicolas Sarkozy in the May 2012 French presidential elections.

Professor Yates commented on the significance of this nomination for France and for the rest of the world. He talked about this first-time "American-style" primaries as a "deepening of France's democracy" and remarked on François Hollande as a candidate who, if elected, would be likely to continue the construction of the EU and the Eurozone.

View interview on Bloomberg's website

Douglas Yates was recently interviewed by the online news website ibnews.com about the next French presidential elections which will be held in 2012. Professor Yates answered the journalist's questions about the candidacy of the leader of France's main right-wing political group. See interview here.

Professor Douglas Yates has been invited by the US Department of State to participate in an ambassadorial seminar on October 4 in Washington, D.C. The full-day seminar is co-sponsored by the Department of State's Bureau of Intelligence and Research and the National Intelligence Council and will be on the topic of Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe, and Cameroon. Douglas Yates will address the US ambassadors about his publication The Historical Dictionary of Gabon and on other related topics.

The Bureau of Intelligence and Research's Office of Outreach sponsors conferences and seminars with the intention of facilitating the exchange of expertise and ideas between experts and government officials.

The National Intelligence Council is "a center of strategic thinking within the US Government, reporting to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and providing the US President and senior policymakers with analyses of foreign policy issues" (source: NIC website).

On May 6 Professor Yates was interviewed by CNBC's Guy Johnson in a package on the mid-term performance of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Looking back on Sarkozy's three years in power, the report considers his tenure and the challenges that lie ahead for him. 

Watch CNBC TV package about Nicolas Sarkozy's Presidency.

Professor Yates spoke on France 24 television on February 25 in a debate about President Sarkozy's diplomatic gestures to the Rwandan regime during a visit to Kigali.

Criticisms of Sarkozy's admission that "mistakes were made" was not enough, and that France needs to make an "apology" for its complicity in the attempted genocide of 1994, raised questions about the implications of France in that tragic event.

Dr. Yates outlined the three main accusations of French complicity: tactical and strategic support for the Hutu regime in 1990-1991, its evacuation of member of the Habyarimana regime in 1994, and its creation of a corridor through which the genocidaires escapes into Zaire (Democratic Republic of Congo) in 1994. While reconciliation has occured, Yates argued, it would be wrong to believe that the risk of another attempted genocide is gone. The structural preconditions of the genocide, such as overpopulation, and the failure of democratic institutions to return the Hutu majority to power, continue to pose risks of a fourth attempted genocide (after 1959, 1963 and 1994).

View France 24 show: The Debate: France and Rwanda: A New Start?

Dr. Douglas Yates participated in the 2009 Trialogue 21 meeting organized by the East-West Institute in Brussels on November 9-10.

This two-day event was the fourth of a series of meetings gathering government and non-government experts from China, the United States and Europe and aimed at exploring and improving the collaboration of these three powers about various issues of international affairs.

This year's edition focused on the upcoming elections in Sudan, the piracy off Somalia, and global warming. Dr. Yates presented the problems of Chinese involvment in the upcoming referendum for independance of South Sudan, which provoked a heated debate.

On November 5, Dr. Douglas Yates participated in a conference at IFRI (Institut Français des Relations Internationales), the oldest French think tank, created in 1979 and dedicated to research and debate in international affairs. This one-day conference was about Gabon, with a focus on the government transition and the future perspectives and challenges that Gabon faces at the social, economic and international levels.

Dr. Yates's presentation emphasized the way the oil rent in Gabon affects the politics of the country. Other presenters included Guy Rossatanga-Rignault of the University of Libreville in Gabon, and Roland Pourtier of the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.