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Sep 13 , 2025 . By Dani Rodrik

Who Will Model Democracy Now?

As a teenager growing up in Istanbul, I was lucky to be part of a generation that had democratic role models nearby. European countries such as Britain, France, Germany, and Sweden fueled our aspirations for prosperity and democracy, giving us hope for the future of our own imperfect polity. These c...

Sep 6 , 2025 . By Esther Ngumbi

The Agricultural Fixes Africa Needs

The number of people facing hunger globally declined from 688 million in 2023 to 673 million in 2024, according to "The State of Food Security & Nutrition in the World 2025," a report recently released by the five leading United Nations agencies working on the issue. But progress has not been equal, with Africa experiencing a slight increase in the number of undernourished people, from 296 million to 306 million. Worryingly, this pattern is set to continue. The report estimates that, even as global hunger declines, 512 million people will still be undernourished in 2030, nearly 60pc of...


Aug 30 , 2025 . By Carsten Brosda

Trolls, Extremes, and the Economics of Outrage

Sometimes, the fulfilment of a promise feels like punishment. When the radio was invented more than 100 years ago, the German playwright Bertolt Brecht observed that its full potential could be explored only after it had become a communication tool, rather than merely a distribution channel. After all, there is a big difference between the few being able to speak to the many and everyone being able to speak with everyone else. Digital technologies have indeed allowed everyone to speak to everyone. However, they have certainly not facilitated mutual understanding or public reason. On the con...


Aug 16 , 2025

Can Democracy Survive AI?

Digital technology was supposed to disperse power. Early internet visionaries hoped that the revolution they were unleashing would empower individuals to free themselves from ignorance, poverty, and tyranny. And for a while, at least, it did. But today, ever-smarter algorithms increasingly predict and shape our every choice, enabling unprecedentedly effective forms of centralised, unaccountable surveillance and control. That means the coming artificial intelligence (AI) revolution may render closed political systems more stable than open ones. In an age of rapid change, transparency, plural...

View From Arada

Aug 23 , 2025

New Players Chip Away at Big Tech’s AI Stronghold

Leaders in Artificial Intelligence (AI), such as OpenAI and DeepMind, view themselves as being in a race to build artificial general intelligence (AGI), a model capable of performing any intellectual...

Aug 9 , 2025

The Left's "Everything Struggle"Is Undermining the Climate Cause

Progressives are caught in a trap of their own making. In an era of overlapping and mutually reinforcing crises, they have come to view every issue, from climate change and public health to energy, in...

Aug 3 , 2025

Machines Are Not Our Friends, Companions

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI's Sam Altman have been aggressively promoting the idea that everyone, children included, should form relationships with AI "friends" or "companions." Meanwhile, mul...

Jul 26 , 2025

The Language of Political Control

Language shapes our thinking and perception of the world and, consequently, what happens in it. That is why I worry less about the troubling state of the world nowadays than about the words we use to...

Jul 19 , 2025

Information Pollution Undermines Climate Progres

The devastation caused by the 2024 flash floods in Valencia, Spain, was so surreal that some images sparked a global debate over their authenticity. In an era when AI technology can produce hyper-real...

Jul 12 , 2025

The Lost Art of Collaboration

At a time of rising international tensions and deep polarisation in many countries, trust-building and cooperation seem like forgotten arts. To reconnect with them and devise creative solutions to sha...

Jul 5 , 2025

Are We Responsible for Our Choices?

Since ancient times, thinkers have pondered whether we freely choose our actions or if they are determined by forces beyond our control. That debate has been given new impetus by scientific discoverie...

Jun 28 , 2025

Healing Rivers Spurs City to Bend Growth Around Its Restored Spine

Over the course of several months of regular site visits, I have watched Addis Abeba's rivers transform from refuse-choked channels to polished corridors of urban life. The transformation, driven by t...

Jun 21 , 2025

Matters of Manners

As we walked down the road from Mexico (then Maychew Square) to AU (then OAU), the four of us munched on what we called Nechu Qolo, properly called Shimbra Dube, bought from Mebrat Hayl recreation cen...

Jun 14 , 2025

A Tea Leaf's Journey to Self-Reliance

At a weekend bazaar hosted at the Zobras Olympiakos Greek Club, I stumbled upon a Frenchman with a ponytail and fluent Amharic. He ran a stall offering herbal tea, wild honey, and artisanal organic pr...

Jun 7 , 2025

Saving A Thousand Mathiwoses

I was barely 18 in 1994 and just beginning my freshman year at Addis Abeba University when a friend asked me to accompany her on an errand to the nearby St. Mary Cathedral. The seat of the Ethiopian...

May 31 , 2025

Facing the Mirror in Turmoil, Change the World

A recent BBC documentary spotlighted a familiar face in war-torn Port Sudan—a city now bearing the scars of a protracted civil war. It was Husam Abdulsalam, a violinist I had come to know from his s...

May 24 , 2025

Animals Need A Better World Too

A three-legged cat loiters at the gates of the Louvre, not the Parisian Museum, but a high-end French restaurant in Addis Abeba where I have had the privilege to dine on several occasions. The sight i...

May 17 , 2025

Moonlight in Zoma

A leisurely Sunday afternoon at a coffee shop near Mekanisa Abo Mazoria turned into a spontaneous adventure. Over coffee, my friend mentioned a nearby park often described as a nature lover's paradis...

May 10 , 2025

Out of Addis, Digital Dreams Rise

Two years ago, to the day, a Joy Hack event organised by iceAddis brought together young coders in a creative sprint to design computer games and draft accompanying articles. Held over three days on t...

May 3 , 2025

Eternal Echoes and Living Legends ALEMTSEHAY WODAJO

A haunting painting of St. George at the Armenian Church by Selam Amsalu lured me toward an unlikely exploration. I had never stepped foot inside the Teferi Mekonnen School of Fine Arts, but Selam's w...


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In Climate Talks, Africa Mortgages Tomorrow Simply to Survive Today


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In Climate Talks, Africa Mortgages Tomorrow Simply to Survive Today

At its launch in Nairobi two years ago, the Africa Climate Summit was billed as the forum...

Editorial | Sep 13 , 2025

Digital Payments Reshape Economy While Service Workers Lose Out

The way the Birr moves is changing, and with it, habits that have shaped daily life for ge...

Featured | Sep 14 , 2025 . By NAHOM AYELE

Student Tax ID Push Triggers Logjam

The yellow flush of Aday Abeba flowers has returned to Addis Abeba, heralding the arrival...

Agenda | Sep 13 , 2025 . By NAHOM AYELE and YITBAREK GETACHEW

Monument to National Ambition, Geopolitical Agency

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Africa's largest hydroelectric power project,...

Fortune News | Sep 15 , 2025 . By AMANUEL BEKELE