Let’s look at some numbers before diving into the debate.

Countries with transparent democracies & respected term limits:

• Ghana: HDI 1990 ~0.445 → 2023 ~0.602, GDP 1990 $0.86B → 2023 $76.4B, projected growth ~3–5%
• Botswana: HDI 1990 ~0.587 → 2023 ~0.708, GDP 1990 $2.85B → 2023 $19.4B
• Mauritius: HDI 1990 ~0.620 → 2023 ~0.796, steady GDP growth ~7%
• Benin: HDI 1990 ~0.350 → 2023 ~0.515, GDP 1990 $2.9B → 2023 $19.7B, projected growth ~6–7%

Countries with limited or no transparent democratic process:

• Togo: HDI 1990 ~0.405 → 2023 ~0.515, GDP 1990 $2.9B → 2023 $9.8B, projected growth ~5.3%
• Chad: HDI 1990 ~0.363 → 2023 ~0.406, GDP 1990 $2.3B → 2023 $20.6B, projected growth ~3%
• Cameroon: HDI 1990 ~0.470 → 2023 ~0.563, GDP 1990 $4.5B → 2023 $45B, projected growth ~3.7%
• DR Congo: HDI 1990 ~0.285 → 2023 ~0.460, GDP 1990 $3B → 2023 $66.4B, projected growth ~8.9%
• Equatorial Guinea: HDI 1990 ~0.530 → 2023 ~0.590, GDP 1990 $2B → 2023 $13B, projected growth ~0.9%
• Zimbabwe: HDI 1990 ~0.500 → 2023 ~0.540, GDP 1990 $4B → 2023 $44.2B, projected growth ~2%

Notice something important: even though many of the non-democratic countries have shown GDP increases, their HDI growth is far slower compared to the democratic countries. GDP alone doesn’t tell the full story, human development, education, life expectancy, and overall societal well-being lag behind.

Now, let’s address the so-called “genuine dictators” like Paul Kagame in Rwanda or Ibrahim Traoré in Burkina Faso. No matter the work they are doing improvements in infrastructure, economic growth, or stability, their long-term success can only be evaluated after they leave power. The reason is simple: we are looking for sustainable, long-term development that survives leadership transitions, not temporary gains maintained by force or fear.

The term “genuine dictator” is itself an oxymoron. By definition, dictatorship concentrates power in one person, leaving no real accountability. Any short-term achievements cannot erase the systemic risk that comes with ignoring democratic institutions. True progress is measured in decades and through peaceful transfers of power, not the lifespan of a single leader.

So, do you still believe in “good dictators”?

I'd really like to spend three or four months in a West African country to explore some of the biodiversity in these regions. Which country might be the best one to spend a prolonged trip in. I'm interested in the DRC however I've heard it's not the safest in certain areas. Has anyone spent time in Gabon or Guinea. Which might be better suited for an American.

It is shocking that not a single east african country has ever qualified for a world cup. Countries like Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda despite being big names in africa overall, are not on the map when it comes to football. On the other hand, west african countries like Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast qualify for world cups regurarly and constantly produce players that play on the highest level. Is there an explaination for that ?

Hello, I’m a habesha teen who took pride in my identity as a black person and African. I always felt a close kinship with other black people and was involved in black student organizations.

But as time went on I am realizing the absolute defragmentation of black people compared to any other racial identity. We can look at whites and say they have very similar genetic components, very similar religions, cultural values, music and much more despite their diversity. Arabs-same thing, similar language, culture, religion, values and more. Same as Latin Americans, East Asian Americans, south Asian Americans. All of that justifies a common identity.

But I look at black people and see that we are very genetically diverse(more than Asians), no common religion, culture, language. The only similar thing I feel is disposition and other people’s perception of us and bias. Which of-course is uneducated. But this is making my defense of pan africanism weakened as the day passes and giving me an identity crisis and making me overthinking what the driver of this unity is.

I am now starting to prefer a coalition model for pan africanism that respects differences (cultures) while creating a realistic and grounded alliance for working together based on similar disposition. In a sense that despite our differences and lack of similarities we can all work in our and for our block while showing pro African favoritism and working with each other and being there for each other when shit hits the fan instead of pretending we are all one and ignoring our differences

Do you guys have any ideas? Tips ? How do you ground black identity despite diversity ?

Maybe this post would be weird so I will explain. (Also i'm not a English native speaker, sorry for any mistakes)

I play roleplaying games and soon I will play a game called Mage: The Asencion. Long story short, the game is set in a world like the real one but with people called awaken or mages, this people are able to bend the laws of reality to fit in their believings and worldview.

To do so, the mage us what is called focus wich is practice or a object that according to his believe can help them to do magic, for example a European mage can fly with a broom or shoot a fireball with a wand.

The game tries his best to represent cultures for all over the world, and in the lore there awaken for every cultures with his own practices. I don't want to extend myself to much in this, so to summarize, there is a group of mages called de dream-speakers or Kha'vadi, that represent shaman from Africa and America (and some others cultures as well). They are united by animism and his specialty is spirits, like communicating with spirits of the places like a rivers or a mountain, or more abstracta things like the spirit of the community or a representations of the ancestora. And they can travel to the spiritual world which all kinds of mythical places exists inhabita byy this spirits.

I want to create a dream-speaker character, basically a shaman in the modern world use traditional real practices of their culture. I don't want to made the things up, I would like to learn about the actual believes of African cultures and their esoteric/religious practices in ancient times.

So I want to ask recommendations:

• ¿whats sources of information can a use to investigate, web pages or any documentary?

• what culture/country/community is the most fitting for this style of fantasy writing?. Originally I wanted to create a character from Mali, a member of Tuareg community that use traditional esoteric practices but I am open to change the concept for something more accurated

• ¿What's elements or ideas can be offensives and I have to avoid?

Thanks

I live in a country in Europe as a Black American and there are people that constantly ask me to explain to them whether “Americans” do XYZ thing they saw in a movie. Most of the time, it is something that is more a white American thing and other times I find that it is something individual and not necessarily about culture. The country I live in is small and they use their cultural logic to try and “understand” U.S. because they tend to speak from a nationalist perspective, whereas the culture in the U.S. is very different depending on region, race, and ethnicity due to the legacy of segregation, slavery, and colonialism.

So I am actually curious how different people in different countries view their identity with regards to culture, nationality, religion, and ethnicity. If someone is to ask you “do people from your country do XYZ”, would your first instinct be to respond on the basis of ethnicity/language/religions/or other combination? And say well I am Xhosa or Hausa and we do this? Or would you respond on the basis of nationality regarding your country as a whole? My original post was removed bc it was too specific and I had an interesting chat with a South African person about this topic, so I am interested in broadly hearing individual perspectives on this topic of people from different countries and different ethnic groups, etc.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskBalkans/comments/1n2cbp7/24_countries_views_on_israel_including_greece/

Nigeria and Kenya have the most positive image of Israel according to the Pew Research survey.

I said they mostly had positive views of every country, other people claimed there was a lot of Islamophobia due to inter-religious tensions.

What do Nigerians and Kenyans think?

Has anyone else noticed that we call some Nigerian genres of music Afrobeats and some genres of South African music Amapiano, but when it’s time to talk about music made by Congolese, Ivorian, Cameroonian, Malian etc artists, it’s all just “Francophone”?

Like what if we just called Rema’s music “Anglophone”? Wouldn’t that be weird?

Mind you these artists would be speaking Lingala in their songs, the melody would be sebene, they would reference Congo in the song like a million times and they’ll still just call it “Francophone”.

Do we just not have a better name for music made by non-Anglophone African artists?

Hi, some people think only North Africa is good and look down on Sub-Saharan Africa, but Nigeria is in Sub-Saharan Africa and is doing pretty well, no? Why is Nigeria so much more prosperous than its neighbouring/nearby countries, such as Niger and Burkina Faso? Thank you for your answers.

Recently, a friend and I were discussing the effectiveness with which Western countries preserve their history. It prompted me to reflect on the various ways in which we, as Africans (with our diverse cultures and traditions) have preserved our own histories and memories. While we are renowned for our rich oral traditions and storytelling, it's important to acknowledge that many of our customs and narratives were undervalued during the colonial period, which imposed systems that erased, overlooked or marginalised our customs and traditions.

With all of that in mind, I am eager to explore ways to support those who are actively working to preserve our collective history. I am particularly interested in identifying organisation, individuals, and initiatives, - beyond the familiar domains of museums, literature (think Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi), and film industries like Nollywood and Ugawood, as well as social media storytelling accounts - that focus on the formal preservation of our heritage. Who are the dedicated preservers of our history in both Africa and the diaspora? I'm looking for individuals or groups that engage in research, documentation, archiving, cultural education, and advocacy efforts to ensure that our stories and traditions are honored and passed down to future generations.

It would be so good to hear other thoughts on this as well.

And how would your country also feel about it?

Stole this idea from another subreddit lol

Hello everyone. I am a person who has been most curious about Africa and African Culture, History, and Spirituality. I want to have a greater understanding of African History without any author filters. I feel some books on Africa are too censored, too pg, or is a bit misinformed.

Are there any Africans or African Scholars here who can recommend me books telling the history of Africa without any filters. Both modern and ancient works for me.

Thank you. Love you all.

I am an American and even though I know more about Sudan than a lot of people in the US, that's not exactly something to brag about. Most people here can't find their own country on a map and think Africa is a country. This may be a bit long and I apologize in advance. Is my characterization of the Civil War in Sudan accurate? If not, I'd want to know how and if there's anything important I'm not aware of, I'd like to know. Here's what I know:

The civil war in Sudan is a power struggle between two military a-holes, whose main differences are personal interests and power, not ideology or whatnot. There's the Sudanese government and armed forces, led by Fattah al-Burhan. He's a generic military dictator and ruthless. Then there's the RSF and the Janjaweed led by Hemedti. From what I'm aware, Hemedti is another ruthless military guy who wants power for himself, like Burhan. However, the RSF and broader Janjaweed are also Arab supremacists who love to massacre ethnic minorities and even do full genocide. Both the Sudanese military and RSF are guilty of war crimes, atrocities and killing a ton of innocent people, but most consider the RSF to be worse. And there are a bunch of smaller militias and rebel groups fighting, such as the SPLM-N and SLM. And different countries are meddling in the war, with the Sudanese military getting support from Iran, Ukraine and Saudi Arabia, while Russian mercenaries and the UAE are supporting the RSF and allied groups.

Is my summary and characterization accurate? I want to be informed before I say or think anything about this terrible situation going on.

I noticed in some countries in Africa there is a big conflict between Christians and Muslim even if both are of the same ethnicity. In other countries, no one cares about your religion. It's common for people to have members of different religions in their family and mixed marriages between Muslims and Christians etc. However, despite their religious tolerance tribalism/ ethnocentricism is a huge issue. I notice religion seems like a bigger issue further north in Africa while tribalism is more common in southern African countries.

Do you believe in anything at all and why ?

Which two countries in Africa have the same ethnic groups of people?

I like to write stories set in a fantasy medioeval/renaissance world, and although it is not the real world, I like to draw inspiration in terms of character design (and/or fighting styles) from the real world. Making characters from all over the world also allows me to study a bit of history and aesthetic of different countries I know nothing or very little about. African countries in particular are something I know almost nothing about, and it's a huge topic that I'm not even sure where to start from.

Do you have any books, websites, videos, documentaries or similar to use as source to learn more about clothings, hairstyles, jewerly, symbolism, customs, and more of certain African countries both in the past and in modern times?

I'm sorry if the question is too broad or generic, but as said I'm quite ignorant on the topic, so anything you can give can be helpful!

Ignoring the lion king, Hollywood studios like Disney, DreamWorks, Pixar etc have never really made a light hearted family/ children's movies depicting African culture and about Africans in a positive light. The Arabs have Aladdin, the Chinese have Mulan and Kung Fu Panda, the Polynesians have Moana, not to mention countless of movies depicting European folktales and culture. Would you be ok with Disney or Hollywood making an animated film about your culture? I understand Africa has many tribes and ethnicities, but I'm quite surprised they've avoided making one about Africa or a legendary African historical figure like Shaka Zulu or Mansa Musa. Why do you think this is so? Would you be okay with Disney, DreamWorks, Pixar or Hollywood making a movie about your culture if done right?

Edit: I'm not talking about depressing & emotionally exhausting movies like beasts of no nation, Hotel Rwanda, black hawk down, Captain Phillips, The last King of Scotland etc that portray Africa in a bad light or are about serious conflicts.

I recently asked this over on r/askeurope and I figured that I should ask it here as well.

Something that I find interesting is how almost every African leader gives an address to the nation at least twice a year: One to commemorate that country's independence, and another to celebrate the New Year. I live in a country where we don't have such a tradition, and when I asked some of my fellow countrymen if we should have such a tradition, I got a lot of backlash.

So, I was curious, do people actually tune in and listen? Or is it a tradition that you wish would go away?

I’m genuinely curious, I’m an Anglophone African(Sierra Leonean) and I really wanted to know if there’s a difference with how Cameroonians, Congolese, Senegalese, Togolese, Beninese, Burkinabes, Chadians, Nigeriens, Malians, Djiboutians, Ivorians, and even how Guineans speak French because I’ve heard that a lot of them tend to mix up their French with their native tongue, which is different in every country, but I want to know how true that is.