ISS Seminar, Cape Town: Africa in the Year 2050: What does Our Future Hold?

Date: 2010-08-20

Venue: 160 Sir Lowry Road, Buchanan Square, Woodstock, Cape Town

RSVP: Ms Hopolang Selebalo
Tel: 021- 461 7211
Fax: 021- 461 7213
Email: [email protected]

Considerable attention has recently been paid to the shifts in global power from west to east and the rise of new global centres of power such as Brazil, Russia, India and China. However, little attention is paid to African futures. This despite the fact that, by 2050, a quarter of the world’s population will be located in Africa. Despite persistently high levels of poverty, ineqaulity and insecurity Africa is already changing rapidly having recently experienced the longest sustained period of economic growth since the onset of liberation some 50 years ago.

Against this background the ISS and the Pardee Center for International Futures at University of Denver have embarked on an African Futures Project 2050 (AFP 2050). The purpose of the AFP 2050 is to develop long-term explanatory scenarios for the future of Africa. These have the potential to better inform the planning of policy makers in government, civil society and business.
The seminar is aimed at sharing the outcomes and research findings of week-long African Futures Workshop and provoke discussion on the challenges and opportunities that face the continent.

Chair: Dr. Paul-Simon Handy ( Programme Head, African Conflict Prevention Programme, Pretoria)

Speakers: Dr. Jakkie Cilliers ( ISS Executive Director)

DrCilliers co-founded the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in 1990 and is the current Executive Director of the Institute. He has a B. Mil (B.A.) from the University of Stellenbosch and a Hons. B.A., M.A. (cum laude) and DLitt et Phil from the University of South Africa (UNISA). At present most of Dr Cilliers` interests relate to the emerging security architecture in Africa as reflected in the developments under the banner of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union as well as issues around African futures. He is an Extraordinary Professor in the Department of Political Sciences, Faculty Humanities at the University of Pretoria and serves on the International Advisory Board of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP).

Prof: Barry Hughes ( Pardee Centre for International Futures)

Professor Hughes hold a B.S. in Mathematics from Stanford and an M.A. Degree and PHD in Political Science from the University of Minnesota in 1970. He is currently Professor at the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver and has served the university as Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and all-University Lecturer in 2006. His principal research interests are in the areas of (1) global change, (2) computer simulation models for economic, energy, food, population, environmental, and socio-political forecasting, and (3) policy analysis. He has developed a widely-used computer simulation called International Futures (IFs) for study of long-term issues by students and policy makers. Prof. Hughes has consulted for the governments of Germany, Iran, Egypt, and the U.S, as well as for the European Union and the United Nations Environment Programme. He has taught in Costa Rica and China.

Hosted by the Institute for Security Studies

Please note that discussions occur under ISS Rules.  Participants are free to use the information presented, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed without his/her express permission.