Dr. Richard Joseph is a non-resident senior advisor for the Africa Center. A renowned academic on African affairs, he informs the U.S. Institute of Peace’s policy recommendations and program priorities on Nigeria and other countries.

Dr. Joseph is currently a professor emeritus at Northwestern University. He previously taught at Emory University, Dartmouth College, the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Ibadan (Nigeria), and the University of Khartoum (Sudan). He has also held research fellowships at Harvard University, Boston University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Institute of Development Studies (Sussex, UK), Chr. Michelsen Institute (Norway), and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (France).

Dr. Joseph has devoted his scholarly career to the study of politics and governance in Africa with a special focus on democratic transitions, state building and state collapse, and conflict resolution. He directed the African Governance Program at The Carter Center (1988-1994) and coordinated elections missions in Zambia (1991), Ghana (1992), a major peace exercises in Liberia (1991-1994). He also participated in The Center’s peace initiatives in Ethiopia and Sudan.

Dr. Joseph has been the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards including a Rhodes scholarship, a Kent fellowship, and a Guggenheim fellowship. In 2002-03, he held visiting fellowships at the U.S. Institute of Peace and the National Endowment for Democracy. He studied as a Fulbright scholar in France and taught as a Fulbright professor in Nigeria. He has also been a longtime member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He received a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and graduate degrees including a doctorate from Oxford University.

Dr. Joseph has written and edited dozens of scholarly books and articles including Radical Nationalism in Cameroon (1977); Gaullist Africa: Cameroon Under Ahmadu Ahidjo (1978); Democracy and Prebendal Politics in Nigeria (1987); State, Conflict, and Democracy in Africa (1999); and the Africa Demos series of The Carter Center (1990-94). He wrote a Special Report for USIP, “Smart Partnerships for African Development: A New Strategic Framework” (May 15, 2002) and a cover story, “Africa’s Predicament and Academe”, for The Chronicle of Higher Education (March 7, 2003). His articles in the Journal of Democracy include “Africa, 1990-1997: From Abertura to Closure” (1998), “Is Ethiopia Democratic: Oldspeak vs Newspeak” (1998), “Africa: States in Crisis” (2003), and “Challenges of a Frontier Region”, (2008). In Current History he has published: “The Overthrow of Nigeria’s Second Republic” (1984); “Nigeria: Inside the Dismal Tunnel” (1996); “Nigeria Confronts Obasanjo’s Legacy” (with Darren Kew, 2008); “Nigeria’s Season of Uncertainty” (with Alexandre Gillies, 2010); and “Democracy and Reconfigured Power in Africa” (2011). Many of his essays and commentaries are available on Arch Library, an Open Access repository of Northwestern University, and on the website, AfricaCLI.org.