Ken Opalo
@kopalo.bsky.social
Associate Professor at Georgetown University.
Washington, DC.
More here: https://www.africanistperspective.com/
Washington, DC.
More here: https://www.africanistperspective.com/
Pinned
Ken Opalo
@kopalo.bsky.social
· Nov 20
An Africanist Perspective | Ken Opalo | Substack
African political economy, foreign affairs, and general commentary. Click to read An Africanist Perspective, by Ken Opalo, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.
www.africanistperspective.com
I blog on African political economy, foreign affairs, and other topics here: www.africanistperspective.com
I’m honored to have been selected for @voxdotcom’s #FuturePerfect25, a list of innovators, thinkers,
disruptors, and people on the ground who are advancing solutions for today’s (and
tomorrow’s) most pressing challenges in global health and development: www.vox.com/future-perfe...
disruptors, and people on the ground who are advancing solutions for today’s (and
tomorrow’s) most pressing challenges in global health and development: www.vox.com/future-perfe...
The 6 big thinkers reshaping foreign aid, masculinity, and development
Meet the Future Perfect 25: The Thinkers
www.vox.com
November 20, 2025 at 1:39 PM
I’m honored to have been selected for @voxdotcom’s #FuturePerfect25, a list of innovators, thinkers,
disruptors, and people on the ground who are advancing solutions for today’s (and
tomorrow’s) most pressing challenges in global health and development: www.vox.com/future-perfe...
disruptors, and people on the ground who are advancing solutions for today’s (and
tomorrow’s) most pressing challenges in global health and development: www.vox.com/future-perfe...
Transformative national development (as opposed to nano-developmentalist nibbling at the margins) is the only way out of this. The sooner everyone is on the same page the better.
November 17, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Transformative national development (as opposed to nano-developmentalist nibbling at the margins) is the only way out of this. The sooner everyone is on the same page the better.
#COP30: Climate policymaking needs a developmentalist makeover via @AfricanBizMag
african.business/2025/11/ener...
african.business/2025/11/ener...
COP30: policymaking needs a developmentalist makeover
Poverty is not a viable climate strategy - China shows that climate policies can be developmentalist, argues Ken Opalo.
african.business
November 14, 2025 at 1:37 PM
#COP30: Climate policymaking needs a developmentalist makeover via @AfricanBizMag
african.business/2025/11/ener...
african.business/2025/11/ener...
Reposted by Ken Opalo
A podcast conversation with Lydia Polgreen @polgreen.bsky.social of the Times about my new book, The Second Emancipation, and about Africa's place in the world of today and tomorrow. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/o...
Opinion | Africa Is Rising. The World Shouldn’t Turn Its Back.
www.nytimes.com
November 12, 2025 at 12:59 PM
A podcast conversation with Lydia Polgreen @polgreen.bsky.social of the Times about my new book, The Second Emancipation, and about Africa's place in the world of today and tomorrow. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/o...
Hongera!
(I’m sure there are those who disagreed with Mamdani on policy, but given the tone and tenor of much of the campaign, it’s nice to see that New Yorkers rejected deranged Islamophobia).
(I’m sure there are those who disagreed with Mamdani on policy, but given the tone and tenor of much of the campaign, it’s nice to see that New Yorkers rejected deranged Islamophobia).
BREAKING: Zohran Mamdani wins the New York City mayoral race, NBC News projects. nbcnews.to/4nIzNUC
November 5, 2025 at 4:21 AM
Hongera!
(I’m sure there are those who disagreed with Mamdani on policy, but given the tone and tenor of much of the campaign, it’s nice to see that New Yorkers rejected deranged Islamophobia).
(I’m sure there are those who disagreed with Mamdani on policy, but given the tone and tenor of much of the campaign, it’s nice to see that New Yorkers rejected deranged Islamophobia).
Guys.
Everyone knows that all your parents’ cousins are your aunties and uncles.
Everyone knows that all your parents’ cousins are your aunties and uncles.
October 28, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Guys.
Everyone knows that all your parents’ cousins are your aunties and uncles.
Everyone knows that all your parents’ cousins are your aunties and uncles.
Only way out of this is national development strategies.
African policymakers should feel empowered to pursue pro-growth national development strategies.
Don’t settle for marginal projects, regardless of who’s hawking them.
African policymakers should feel empowered to pursue pro-growth national development strategies.
Don’t settle for marginal projects, regardless of who’s hawking them.
October 27, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Only way out of this is national development strategies.
African policymakers should feel empowered to pursue pro-growth national development strategies.
Don’t settle for marginal projects, regardless of who’s hawking them.
African policymakers should feel empowered to pursue pro-growth national development strategies.
Don’t settle for marginal projects, regardless of who’s hawking them.
Raila Amolo Odinga: kenopalo.substack.com/p/raila-amol...
Raila Amolo Odinga
The man whose political career defined Kenya’s multiparty politics
kenopalo.substack.com
October 15, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Raila Amolo Odinga: kenopalo.substack.com/p/raila-amol...
If the U.S. were a low-income country, right around now they'd have been hit with a range of economic sanctions designed to impoverish Americans into rising up to defend their democracy -- with predictable results.
October 6, 2025 at 4:25 PM
If the U.S. were a low-income country, right around now they'd have been hit with a range of economic sanctions designed to impoverish Americans into rising up to defend their democracy -- with predictable results.
The best thing is happening on the Substack!!! The share of subscribers based on the Continent is growing!
www.africanistperspective.com
www.africanistperspective.com
An Africanist Perspective | Ken Opalo | Substack
African political economy, foreign affairs, and general commentary. Click to read An Africanist Perspective, by Ken Opalo, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.
www.africanistperspective.com
October 6, 2025 at 8:47 AM
The best thing is happening on the Substack!!! The share of subscribers based on the Continent is growing!
www.africanistperspective.com
www.africanistperspective.com
The geopolitics of international development (after foreign aid): www.africanistperspective.com/p/the-geopol...
The geopolitics of international development (after foreign aid)
You can't have nice things without strategic independence and policy autonomy
www.africanistperspective.com
October 2, 2025 at 4:06 PM
The geopolitics of international development (after foreign aid): www.africanistperspective.com/p/the-geopol...
How to build trust and capabilities for effective governance in Africa: world-bank-afronomics.captivate.fm/episode/how-...
How to build trust and capabilities for effective governance in Africa - Afronomics
In this episode of Afronomics, host Andrew Dabalen speaks with Dr. Ken Opalo, a leading scholar on African political economy and governance. Opalo,...
world-bank-afronomics.captivate.fm
September 29, 2025 at 9:18 AM
How to build trust and capabilities for effective governance in Africa: world-bank-afronomics.captivate.fm/episode/how-...
It’s an odd time for anyone to be doubling down on deranged Islamophobia.
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...
Islam was the world’s fastest-growing religion from 2010 to 2020
From 2010 to 2020, the number of Muslims increased by 347 million people to 2.0 billion people.
www.pewresearch.org
September 28, 2025 at 5:37 AM
It’s an odd time for anyone to be doubling down on deranged Islamophobia.
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...
Reposted by Ken Opalo
Great to see that the UK Development Minister is reading @cgdev.org NRF @kopalo.bsky.social & Stefan Dercon fabians.org.uk/publication/...
Promising development | Fabian Society
Fabian Society
fabians.org.uk
September 26, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Great to see that the UK Development Minister is reading @cgdev.org NRF @kopalo.bsky.social & Stefan Dercon fabians.org.uk/publication/...
September 26, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Reposted by Ken Opalo
I've bored on before about my view that the hidden assumption of the Left is that economics is bad and nasty, therefore the worse and nastier you're being, the better economics you're doing.
The worst boss is always a squishy liberal acting how she thinks a hard nosed capitalist would.
The worst boss is always a squishy liberal acting how she thinks a hard nosed capitalist would.
September 25, 2025 at 11:19 PM
I've bored on before about my view that the hidden assumption of the Left is that economics is bad and nasty, therefore the worse and nastier you're being, the better economics you're doing.
The worst boss is always a squishy liberal acting how she thinks a hard nosed capitalist would.
The worst boss is always a squishy liberal acting how she thinks a hard nosed capitalist would.
African Foreign Policy in a Multipolar Age
African Foreign Policy - Part 1
kenopalo.substack.com
September 25, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Absolutely glorious.
September 20, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Absolutely glorious.
Reposted by Ken Opalo
This is an important argument that folk focused on climate and development would do well to engage with
September 19, 2025 at 5:33 PM
This is an important argument that folk focused on climate and development would do well to engage with
The most unlikely degrowthers: open.substack.com/pub/kenopalo...
The most unlikely degrowthers
On why the World Bank and other multilaterals should recalibrate their climate projects in low-income countries
open.substack.com
September 19, 2025 at 7:24 AM
The most unlikely degrowthers: open.substack.com/pub/kenopalo...
“It can’t happen here” … yeah right.
September 18, 2025 at 7:41 AM
“It can’t happen here” … yeah right.
On the rise and fall of STEM education in Kenya: www.africanistperspective.com/p/what-does-...
What does the rise and decline of STEM enrollment in Kenyan universities tell us about the Kenyan economy?
A pitch to increase STEM enrollment (and fix higher education in Kenya)
www.africanistperspective.com
September 17, 2025 at 12:49 PM
On the rise and fall of STEM education in Kenya: www.africanistperspective.com/p/what-does-...
One day writers and editors in major international magazines will learn that the Continent has 54 countries with lots of variation.
September 14, 2025 at 8:39 PM
One day writers and editors in major international magazines will learn that the Continent has 54 countries with lots of variation.
Mission 300, championed by the World Bank & the AfDB, among others, needs a new mission.
Electrifying African firms for growth and development:
open.substack.com/pub/kenopalo...
Electrifying African firms for growth and development:
open.substack.com/pub/kenopalo...
Electrifying African firms for growth and development
On the urgent need to rethink the core goals of Mission 300
open.substack.com
September 8, 2025 at 6:24 AM
Mission 300, championed by the World Bank & the AfDB, among others, needs a new mission.
Electrifying African firms for growth and development:
open.substack.com/pub/kenopalo...
Electrifying African firms for growth and development:
open.substack.com/pub/kenopalo...
Reposted by Ken Opalo
Tomorrow's article is on the history of Yoruba cities
September 6, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Tomorrow's article is on the history of Yoruba cities