Fantu Cheru
Professor Emeritus and Senior Research Fellow at NAI (from August 2007).
Subject areas
International relations; policy analysis and development management; urban and rural development; global governance; new social movements.
Contact
fantu.cheru@nai.uu.se
Tel: +46 18 56 22 27 (direct)
Research project
Remittance and local economic development; Globalization, cities and the politics of water provisioning; China and Africa: strategic encounters.
Academic background
PhD in political economy and urban management and MS in Political Science from Portland State University (Oregon, USA); and BA in Political Science from Colorado College (Colorado).
Curriculum Vitae (pdf)
Interview with Fantu Cheru and Carin Norberg before ECAS4
What is African Engagements about?
The 4th European Conference on African Studies (ECAS), held in Uppsala 15-18 June, will be bigger than any previous ECAS conference, attracting some 1500 participants.
– I think it has to do with the quality of the research and the interest in Africa as such, says Carin Norberg, director of the Nordic Africa Institute.
The theme is “African Engagements – on Whose Terms?”.
– The research has always been designed in the North and executed in the South. Rarely has there been a joint effort to set up a research agenda and produce knowledge. This is a very touchy issue, but we are courageous enough to bring it up on the table, says NAI research director Fantu Cheru.
Still no People Power
In 1990 all but five of Africa’s 54 countries were dictatorships, either civilian or military. Ten years later most of the countries had introduced political reforms and become democratic. But very few, even today, have moved on beyond just holding multiparty elections.
– Governing elites argue that economic progress is more important than building democratic institutions. But in African countries with high economic performance there have been little of rising incomes or popular welfare. Democracy must mean more than elections. It must address people’s right to food, education and better health, says Fantu Cheru.
Read Fantu Cheru’s article Democracy and People Power in Africa: still searching for the ‘political kingdom’, in Third World Quarterly.
Chapter on India-Africa relations
Fantu Cheru and Cyril Obi have written a chapter entitled "India–Africa relations in the twenty-first century: genuine partnership or a marriage of convenience?" in the recently published book "India in Africa: Changing Geographies of Power" by Emma Mawdsley and Gerard McCann (eds), published by Fahamu Books and Pambazuka Press. The book enables readers to compare India to China and other ‘rising powers’ in Africa.