Douglas Yates a Guest Professor in the Summer Program at HPU

In July and August, Professor Yates was invited to teach in the summer program at Hawaii Pacific University (HPU), a partner institution of the American Graduate School in Paris. He taught two courses, Comparative politics and Transitions to Democracy.

Yates says: "Having taught African politics for many years at the American Graduate School in Paris, usually recounting the dismal stories of corrupt elites, hereditary dictators, and bloodthirsty tyrants, it was a pleasure to cover the recent proliferation of competitive, multiparty elections.  The question underlying this course was whether or not competitive elections since the end of the Cold War have been reinforcing democracy, or contributing instead to the durability of authoritarian rule.  Having discussed this topic at an AGS Wine and Cheese evening during the spring semester, it was interesting to have the chance to see how students that summer in Hawaii responded to the same issues.  Several of my HPU students were on the G.I. Bill, and had just returned from tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, so their experiences of unsuccessful democratic consolidation shaped their perception of analogous African efforts.  I really enjoyed having lively debates about African politics through the lens of American interventions in the Middle East, and brought back to Paris many new and useful perspectives to apply in my classes at AGS.”

During his stay, Professor Yates was interviewed on the local TV channel ThinkTech TV, where he answered questions by Patrick Bratton, Director of the Diplomacy and Military Studies department at HPU, on the subject of his most recently published book, The Scramble for African Oil (London: Pluto Press, 2012)

View interview