Dealing with Autocratic Regimes in Africa (Deutsche Welle)→

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Autocratic or authoritarian regimes, dictatorships, have been a dominant form of governance in Africa for many years. In the second decade of the 21st century, one concern is that they may hinder the attainment of one of the UN's crucial Sustainable Development Goals.

The growth in the number of migrants from Africa poses a challenge outside the continent. Africa must help resolve this challenge by implementing universally acceptable standards of democratic governance. But Robtel Neajai Pailey, a senior researcher from Liberia at Oxford University, rejects the notion of universal standards of democracy. "There are different strands of democracy so it depends on how you define democracy and who is defining it,” she told DW.

Waar is 'Afrika' in Afrikaanse Studies? (OneWorld Netherlands)

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Interview – De Universiteit van Leiden organiseerde onlangs een seminar waarin verschillende wetenschappers en studenten spraken over het tekort aan Afrikaanse wetenschappers in studies over Afrika. Pailey, senior onderzoeker aan de Universiteit van Oxford, was één van de sprekers. Aan OneWorld vertelt zij over haar eigen ervaringen.

A Child's Eye View of Corruption (Oxford Development Matters)→

/ Department of International Development, University of Oxford/

Corruption has become the real stuff of public discourse and everyday practice in many African societies, implicating both citizens and subjects, both public and private life...It is against this backdrop that a new children’s storybook Gbagba, published by One Moore Book in 2013 and authored by Liberian academic and activist Robtel Neajai Pailey, is very timely.

This Children’s Book Is Starting a National Conversation about Corruption in Liberia (Public Radio International)→

/ Public Radio International/

Everyday graft and bribe-taking can make it hard to avoid getting cynical — especially in a place still recovering from civil war and the Ebola epidemic. But Liberian author and academic Robtel Neajai Pailey has turned to the least cynical group to take a look at corruption: children.

Author Sees Children as Key to a Corruption-free Liberia (The Bush Chicken)→

/ The Bush Chicken/

(Monrovia, Liberia) Speaking to Liberian writer and activist Robtel Neajai Pailey, one can glean the strong disdain she has for the kickbacks and bribery that are ubiquitous in all sectors of Liberian society.

“I find it disgusting working in that environment,” the Oxford-educated academic said in a phone interview last November, referring to corrupt settings in general.

It is a view she espoused in a New York Times op-ed she wrote and in the below TEDxEuston talk.

Interview: Robtel Neajai Pailey—Liberian Activist, Writer, Academic (Heroine Collective)→

/ Heroine Collective/

My intellectual curiosity was piqued at an early age when I discovered words followed by stories. I devoured books one by one, and couldn’t get enough of them. I was in middle school when I started to deconstruct ideas, ask critical questions, and wonder why things were the way they were. In high school, my analytical skills were further sharpened, but I didn’t study in a culturally affirming environment.  I went to a predominantly white all girls’ college preparatory school in Washington, DC, USA, and remember feeling like ‘the other’ most of the time.

Battle for Liberia's Soul: Why Moves to Declare It a 'Christian Nation' Could Spell Disaster (Christian Today)→

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This is a fear echoed by London-based Liberian academic, activist and author Dr Robtel Neajai Pailey, who told Christian Today: "I fear for this outcome because it will undoubtedly sow the seeds of division in a country that is already very fractured."

Pailey added: "Besides, we need to focus on more important priorities, like improving the lives of the 64 per cent of Liberians who live in abject poverty. After all, poverty knows no religion. Given that political stalwarts such as Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Governance Commission Chairman Dr. Amos Sawyer have publicly rejected the proposition to declare Liberia a Christian state, I can only hope that grassroots public education campaigns will avert a possible 'yes' vote."

Tutu Fellows, 27 Jan Dr. Robtel Neajai Pailey (Tutu Fellows Podcast Series) →

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A Liberian academic, activist and author with a transnational mindset, Robtel Neajai Pailey claims that she "exists and thrives on three continents simultaneously." She shares her story about growing up in Washington D.C. and a project to raise awareness among children about the scourge of corruption on the African continent.

How to Spread It: Corruption Buster Fights the Good Fight (City Press)→

/ City Press/

Robtel Neajai Pailey has written for publications across the world, including the International New York Times, and news and opinion website The Daily Beast. Once a hard-hitting opinion columnist for the independent Liberian newspaper New Narratives, she has provided Liberians with the information they need to demand accountability from their leaders.

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