The Elite Africa Project is a global network of scholars working to shift how Africa and its elites are understood.

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INTRODUCTION

Welcome to The Elite Africa Project

Watch a video introduction to the project and database.

Featured Posts

Introducing: The Elite Africa Project Database

Learn more about the Elite Africa Project and our Online Database!

Dafe Oputu

Scholar Spotlight: Jeanne-Marie Jackson - Part 2

Part 2 of our interview with Professor of English Jeanne-Marie Jackson

Elite Africa Roundup - 20 August 2025

Funeral stalemate in Zambia, Jude Dibia on queerness in African lit

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Elite Africa Roundup - 2 August 2025

WAFCON 24, Cairo event honours displaced Sudanese entrepreneurs

Domains of Elite Power

The mechanics of how power—the essential condition of elite status—is meaningfully generated and exercised

Economic

Economic and business elites

Coercive

Military elites and those in security agencies

Ritual

Royalty, nobles, “traditional” rulers

Aesthetic

Art, literature, music- and media-based elites including new online influencers, clothing designers, architects, etc.

Religious

Religious and spiritual leaders, and intellectual/academic elites

Political

State-based or state-focused elites including international techno/bureaucrats

The Elite Africa Project

is a Canadian-based global network of scholars working to challenge predominant understandings of Africa and its elites.

Both in academia and in wider public discourse, African elites have either been ignored or depicted as grasping and self-interested. This framing perpetuates negative depictions of the continent and its peoples and draws on a simplistic understanding of what power is and how it is wielded. Our work aims to counter these perceptions by initiating global conversations about “who leads” in Africa and how they do so.

We seek to disrupt and renew both academic and public discussions of African leadership, refocusing attention on a wider, qualitatively different set of elites from those that have predominated in the past (such as the parasitic “Big Men” of neo-patrimonial politics).

Burna Boy, Nigerian musician, rapper and songwriter; in 2021, his album Twice as Tall won the Best World Music Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, and he enjoyed back to back Grammy award nominations in 2019 and 2020.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian economist, fair trade leader, environmental sustainability advocate, human welfare champion, sustainable finance maven and global development expert. Since March 2021, Okonjo-Iweala has been serving as Director-General of the World Trade Organization.

This project focuses on Africa’s elites, defined as those who operate at the highest level across a range of domains, wield significant power, and possess expert knowledge, skills, and personal strengths that are deployed in strategic, creative, and generative ways. While elites are those who possess the most consequential and powerful agenda-setting and decision-making capacity, Africa’s elites have either been sidelined in many of our analyses or rendered monotonal. When we switch frames to consider the continent as embodying and projecting new, generative forms of power, it changes our view of Africa. It may also change how we understand power itself.

We look at six domains of elite power, from the political to the aesthetic, and ask how we might shift how we think about and study Africa, and how this shift would impact our conceptualization of power and its exercise. Our goal is to contribute to popular conversations about Africa and to highlight the achievements of the astonishing new generation of leaders for a broader public audience.

This website will serve as a hub for collaborative activity by scholars, activists, and practitioners working on Elite Africa and house a searchable database of primary and secondary materials on African elites.

Kofi Annan (1938-2018), Ghanaian-born diplomat, trained in economics, international relations and management; was the first UNSG to be elected from within the ranks of the UN staff itself and served in various key roles before becoming Secretary General.

Namwali Serpell, Zambia award-winning novelist and writer; Recognised early on with the Caine prize, her numerous subsequent awards include the Windham–Campbell Literature Prize, one of the world’s richest literary prizes.

Mohammed "Mo" Ibrahim, Sudanese billionaire businessman. He worked for several telecommunications companies, before founding Celtel, which when sold had over 24 million mobile phone subscribers in 14 African countries.

The Elite Africa Project

is a Canadian-based global network of scholars working to challenge predominant understandings of Africa and its elites.

Both in academia and in wider public discourse, African elites have either been ignored or depicted as grasping and self-interested. This framing perpetuates negative depictions of the continent and its peoples and draws on a simplistic understanding of what power is and how it is wielded. Our work aims to counter these perceptions by initiating global conversations about “who leads” in Africa and how they do so.

We seek to disrupt and renew both academic and public discussions of African leadership, refocusing attention on a wider, qualitatively different set of elites from those that have predominated in the past (such as the parasitic “Big Men” of neo-patrimonial politics).

This project focuses on Africa’s elites — those who operate at the highest level across a range of domains, wield significant power, and possess expert knowledge, skills, and personal strengths that are deployed in strategic, creative, and generative ways. When we switch frames to consider the continent as embodying and projecting new, generative forms of power, it changes our view of Africa. It may also change how we understand power itself.

This website is the hub for collaborative activity by scholars, activists, and practitioners working on Elite Africa and will house a searchable database of primary and secondary materials on African elites.

Read More

ELITE AFRICA PROJECT DATABASE

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Anene, John N. “Military Elites and Democratization: Ghana and Nigeria.” Journal of Political & Military Sociology, 28, no. 2 (2000): 230–45. http://www.jstor.org/stable/45292813.

This study shows that intra-military elite competitive politics between the military democrats and autocrats determine the nature of democratization in Ghana and Nigeria. Also, the duration of the democratic transition is linked to the resolution of the intra-military democratization puzzle within the political military domain. It was also found that the political sociology of military coup behavior reveals the profiles of the military democratic and autocratic elite groups in the armed forces organization. Furthermore, the active support of retired ranking military elites for civilian electoral rule, since the 1990s, enhances the restoration of electoral civilian democracy. Therefore, both the political military activities within the military regime and within the "uncivil military" sector comprising retired military elites inform military democratic analysis in sub-Saharan Africa. Both sectors of the political military relations determine the "military factor" which is vital for successful democratization and sustaining civilian electoral rule in the region.

Source: article abstract

Anene, John N. “Military Elites and Democratization"

Anene, John N
This is some text inside of a div block.

This study shows that intra-military elite competitive politics between the military democrats and autocrats determine the nature of democratization in Ghana and Nigeria

Coercive
Political

Anene, John N. “Military Administrative Behavior and Democratization: Civilian Cabinet Appointments in Military Regimes in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Journal of Public Policy 17, no. 1 (1997): 63–80. doi:10.1017/S0143814X00003433.

Military administrators in sub-Saharan Africa often appoint civilian political elites to cabinet positions for the following reasons: to advance effective governance, as a response to demands for transition to civilian rule, and as a political technique to civilianize the military regime. Empirical patterns of civilian cabinet appointments by the types of post-military political regimes show that the nature of civilian involvement in military administration is a valid predictor of the types of regime likely to follow military rule. Further findings confer some historical insights to the programmed and the national conference models of democratization in the region. In addition, military administrative analysis is a way to gain new insights into military transition in the region.

Source: article abstract

Anene, John N. “Military Administrative Behavior and Democratization"

Anene, John N
This is some text inside of a div block.

Empirical patterns of civilian cabinet appointments by the types of post-military political regimes show that the nature of civilian involvement in military administration is a valid predictor of the types of regime likely to follow military rule

Coercive

Kuehn, David and Yagil Levy, eds. Mobilizing Force: Linking Security Threats, Militarization, and Civilian Control. Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2021.

What leads a democratic government to use military force to counter a domestic or external threat? How does it legitimize this mobilization to its citizenry? And what is the significance for civilian control of the military? The authors of Mobilizing Force draw on case studies from around the world to systematically examine these critical questions, exploring the interrelationships among security threats, the militarization of security policy, and democratic accountability.

Source: Book description by publisher

Kuehn, David and Yagil Levy, eds. Mobilizing Force

Kuehn, David and Yagil Levy, eds
This is some text inside of a div block.

The authors of Mobilizing Force draw on case studies from around the world to systematically examine these critical questions, exploring the interrelationships among security threats, the militarization of security policy, and democratic accountability

Coercive

Kieh, George Klay and Pita Ogaba Agbese. The Military and Politics in Africa: From Engagement To Democratic and Constitutional Control. Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2004.

The book has two major objectives. First, it examines the various aspects of the involvement of the military as governors in the politics of African states. Second, it offers some suggestions on ways in which constitutional and political strategies can be used to control the military’s recurrent intervention in politics in Africa. The book aims to provide insights into the military’s role in African politics from initial intervention to the performance of military regimes, as well as to disengagement, reengagement, consolidation and finally, the offering of ways to control the problem of intervention.

Source: https://books.google.ca

Kieh, George Klay and Pita Ogaba Agbese. The Military and Politics in Africa

Kieh, George Klay and Pita Ogaba Agbese
This is some text inside of a div block.

The book examines the various aspects of the involvement of the military as governors in the politics of African states and offers some suggestions on ways in which constitutional and political strategies can be used to control the military’s recurrent intervention in politics in Africa.

Coercive

Jowell, Marco. Peacekeeping In Africa: Politics, Security and The Failure of Foreign Military Assistance. I. B. Tauris, 2018.

Marco Jowell has spent a decade working in peacekeeping training in East Africa - initially as one of the foreign 'Technical Advisers' at the Peace Support Operations(PSO) training centre in Kenya, the International Peace Support Training Centre(IPSTC) and subsequently as a strategic adviser to the Rwanda Peace Academy. Using first-hand experience, he considers how military forces from a variety of African states - with great differences in history, language and political systems and with militaries with different cultures and capabilities - can conduct complicated multinational peacekeeping operations. He shows how regional peacekeeping training centers provide an environment for African elites, predominately military, to interact with each other through shared training and experiences. This process of interaction, or socialization, improves skills but also encourages cohesion so that future African-led missions will be managed by well-trained officers who are comfortable and willing to work within a regional or Pan-African framework. Jowell shows that part of the aim of peacekeeping training centers is to foster a Pan-African 'outward' looking ideology or disposition as well as improving technical ability. This book will be essential reading for all involved with African military and security studies and analysts of peacekeeping training and operations.

Excerpt from book description culled from Bloomsbury.com

Jowell, Marco. Peacekeeping In Africa

Jowell, Marco
This is some text inside of a div block.

Using first-hand experience, the author considers how military forces from a variety of African states - with great differences in history, language and political systems and with militaries with different cultures and capabilities - can conduct complicated multinational peacekeeping operations.

Coercive

Houngnikpo, Mathurin C. Guarding the Guardians: Civil-Military Relations and Democratic Governance in Africa. Routledge, 2016.

This book explores the theory of civil-military relations and moves on to review the intrusion of the armed forces into African politics by looking first at the organization and role of the army in pre-colonial and colonial eras, before examining contemporary armies and their impact on society. Furthermore, it revisits the various explanations of military takeovers in Africa and disentangles the notion of the military as the modernizing force. Whether as a revolutionary force, as a stabilizing force, or as a modernizing force, the military has often been perceived as the only organized and disciplined group with the necessary skills to uplift newly independent nations. The performance of Africa's military governments since independence, however, has soundly disproven this thesis. As such, this study conveys the necessity of new civil-military relations in Africa and calls not just for civilian control of the military but rather a democratic oversight of the security forces in Africa.

Culled from Amazon.com

Houngnikpo, Mathurin C. Guarding the Guardians

Houngnikpo, Mathurin C
This is some text inside of a div block.

This book explores the theory of civil-military relations and moves on to review the intrusion of the armed forces into African politics by looking first at the organization and role of the army in pre-colonial and colonial eras, before examining contemporary armies and their impact on society

Coercive
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