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Stephen Chan

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.

South Africa election: ANC’s lost majority ushers in a new era of coalition politics

Jun 04, 2024 06:18 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics

From the moment this years South African general election was called, through the whole campaign, the main question everyone here was asking was whether the African National Congress (ANC) could extend its 30-year...

Why the upcoming South African election a massive milestone for the ruling ANC

May 24, 2024 03:43 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics

South Africans governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), is in trouble. After 30 years in charge, it is scrambling for support ahead of the upcoming national elections. The ANC has run the country since the...

Russia rekindles old friendship with South Africa, its ally against apartheid

Jan 25, 2023 04:42 am UTC| Politics

The recent announcement that the South African, Russian and Chinese navies will conduct joint exercises off the east coast of South Africa between February 17 and 27, has alarmed the United States. Washington has condemned...

Zambia: debt, unpaid salaries and a poor harvest have sown seeds of crisis

May 02, 2019 17:46 pm UTC| Insights & Views

In the volatile landscape of southern Africa, Zambia is often overlooked. It played a huge role in the liberation struggles of its neighbours. The ANC, banned in South Africa by the apartheid government, established its...

New hope in Nigeria, but Zimbabwe struggles with the same old problems

Dec 04, 2018 16:39 pm UTC| Insights & Views Politics

There has been a sense of transition in both Nigeria and Zimbabwe recently. In Nigeria, Obiageli Oby Ezekwesili launched her presidential election campaign. She is not expected to win in the 2019 election. At best, she...

Zimbabwe: troubled nation now faces tough foreign policy choices

Oct 04, 2018 14:34 pm UTC| Insights & Views Law

The toxic presidency of Mugabe may be over, but the new Zimbabwean government of Emerson Mnangagwa must quickly make some hard foreign policy decisions if it is to change the countrys fortunes. For so far no major foreign...

Economy

Moody’s Downgrade Sparks GOP Divide Over U.S. Debt and Trump’s Tax Bill

Moodys recent downgrade of the U.S. sovereign credit rating from AAA to Aa1 has stirred a sharp response from Republicans in Congress, revealing deep divisions over fiscal policy and President Donald Trumps proposed tax...

Trump Urges Fed to Cut Interest Rates, Criticizes Powell

U.S. President Donald Trump called on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates sooner rather than later, emphasizing the growing consensus for easing monetary policy. In a social media post on Saturday, Trump also took a...

Vietnam, U.S. Begin Key Trade Talks Amid Looming Tariff Threat

Vietnam and the United States held their first direct ministerial-level trade negotiations on Friday in Jeju, South Korea, following the APEC Ministerial Meeting. The discussions come ahead of a potentially crippling 46%...

GOP Infighting Blocks Trump Tax Bill Amid Moody’s U.S. Credit Downgrade

Hardline Republicans in the U.S. House blocked President Donald Trumps proposed tax bill on Friday, just hours before Moodys downgraded the U.S. governments credit rating due to surging debt. The bill, aimed at extending...

Wall Street Rallies for Fifth Day Amid Tariff Truce and Rate Cut Hopes

Wall Street closed higher on Friday, marking its fifth consecutive day of gains, as investors reacted positively to easing U.S.-China trade tensions despite concerning economic data. The SP 500, Nasdaq, and Dow all posted...

Politics

Trump to Speak With Putin and Zelenskiy Amid Renewed Ceasefire Talks

U.S. President Donald Trump announced he will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday in a push to broker a ceasefire in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. This...

Trump Urges Walmart to Absorb Tariffs Amid Rising Prices

U.S. President Donald Trump criticized Walmart for attributing rising prices to tariffs on Chinese imports, urging the retail giant to eat the tariffs instead of passing costs to consumers. Trumps remarks followed Walmarts...

Europe Focuses on Ukraine Ceasefire, Not Troop Deployment

Europe is prioritizing an unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine over any discussions of deploying troops, according to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Speaking in Rome, Merz...

Germany Rules Out UniCredit Takeover Bid for Commerzbank—For Now

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has downplayed the likelihood of Italys UniCredit launching a full acquisition of German lender Commerzbank (ETR: CBKG) in the near term. Speaking at a press conference in Rome after...

EU Plans New Sanctions on Russia as Peace Talks Stall

The European Union is preparing a new round of sanctions to increase pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin over the ongoing war in Ukraine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during the European...

Science

Kennedy Sets September Deadline to Uncover Autism Causes Amid Controversy

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a bold plan to identify the cause of autism by September 2025. Speaking at a cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump, Kennedy declared a global...

AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi Gets US Approval for Bladder Cancer Treatment

AstraZenecas drug Imfinzi (NASDAQ: AZN) has received U.S. approval to treat adult patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer, a significant advancement in cancer therapy. The approval allows Imfinzi to be used in...

Sanofi’s New Hemophilia Drug Qfitlia Gains FDA Approval with Breakthrough Bimonthly Dosing

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Qfitlia, a groundbreaking hemophilia treatment by French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi (NASDAQ: SNY). Designed for patients aged 12 and older with hemophilia A or B,...

FDA Vaccine Chief Peter Marks Resigns Amid Controversy Over Transparency

Peter Marks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) top vaccine official, has resigned after reportedly being forced out by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to The Wall Street Journal....

Museums have tons of data, and AI could make it more accessible − but standardizing and organizing it across fields won’t be easy

Ice cores in freezers, dinosaurs on display, fish in jars, birds in boxes, human remains and ancient artifacts from long gone civilizations that few people ever see museum collections are filled with all this and more....

Technology

xAI Responds to Grok Chatbot Controversy Over South Africa Comments

Elon Musks AI company, xAI, has addressed growing concerns after its Grok chatbot referenced a debunked conspiracy theory about a white genocide in South Africa. The company said on Thursday that the incident stemmed from...

Fortnite Blocked on iPhones Amid Ongoing Epic Games and Apple Dispute

Fortnite, the globally popular video game by Epic Games, is currently unavailable on Apples iPhone devices across the U.S. and European Union. Epic confirmed that the game cannot be accessed via Apples iOS or App Store...

xAI Investigates Grok Incident Involving Unsolicited South Africa Comments

Elon Musks AI startup xAI addressed concerns on Friday following a controversial incident where its Grok chatbot made unsolicited remarks about race relations in South Africa. The company attributed the issue to an...

Nvidia to Launch Shanghai R&D Hub Amid Stricter US Export Curbs

Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) is set to establish a research and development center in Shanghai, according to a report by the Financial Times. The move comes as the U.S. intensifies export restrictions on advanced...

China Criticizes U.S. Over Export Guidance Targeting Huawei AI Chips

China has sharply criticized recent U.S. export guidance targeting Huaweis Ascend AI chips, claiming it threatens the stability of global semiconductor supply chains. The warning followed new guidance from the U.S....