Carolyn Logan
Associate Professor of Political Science | Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI, UNITED STATES
An expert in African politics
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Biography
Carolyn Logan is Deputy Director of the Afrobarometer, a collaborative survey research project that conducts public opinion research on the quality of democracy and governance in 20 African countries. She is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and MSU’s African Studies Center. Logan joined the Afrobarometer in 2001, and the Political Science faculty in 2004.
Logan’s research interests are in democratization and political development in Africa, especially in East Africa, the Horn and Somaliland. She is particularly interested in the role of “traditional” leaders and institutions in democratization, and in “citizen versus subject” attitudes among African publics. Logan lived and worked in Southern and Eastern Africa for nearly a decade before joining MSU, including in Kenya, Lesotho, Rwanda, Somaliland and Somalia.
Areas of Expertise (5)
African Governance
African Public Opinion
African Politics
African Political Development
African Traditional Leaders
Accomplishments (1)
The Roots of Resilience: Exploring Popular Support for African Traditional Authorities (professional)
My paper “The Roots of Resilience: Exploring Popular Support for African Traditional Authorities.” African Affairs, 112 (448): 353 - 376, 2013 was included in Routledge’s recent "Major Works: Critical Concepts in Political Science" series, African Politics collection. This 4 volume collection, edited by Dr. Nic Cheeseman of Oxford University, contains 70 articles from the last 20 years (1996 - 2015) deemed to be "the classic and essential texts of African politics"
Education (4)
Tufts University: Ph. D., International Relations 2002
Tufts University: M.A., International Relations 1996
Cornell University: M.S., Environmental and Water Resource Engineering 1987
University of Michigan: B.S., Civil Engineering 1983
Affiliations (4)
- African Studies Association
- American Political Science Association
- Midwest Political Science Association
- International Political Science Association
News (1)
Analysis | Africans find it hard to learn what their governments are up to. It's no surprise many suspect corruption.
The Washington Post online
2021-05-21
This article was cowritten by Carolyn Logan, director of analysis for Afrobarometer and associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Michigan State University. Although access to information laws offer at least some protection for people's right to information in about half of African countries, the pandemic has highlighted how weak these protections still are in practice. In addition to limiting access to information, governments have harassed and arrested activists and journalists for releasing statistics or other information on COVID-19 in Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria and elsewhere on the continent. Many African countries — including leading democracies such as Botswana and Namibia — still lack laws protecting access to information.
Journal Articles (3)
Ambitious SDG goal confronts challenging realities: Access to justice is still elusive for many Africans
AfrobarometerCarolyn Logan
2018 Access to justice for all citizens has long been recognized as a cornerstone of democracy, good governance, and effective and equitable development. Its centrality has recently been highlighted in the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 16 (SDG16), which calls for all societies to “promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels”(United Nations, 2016). The United Nations Development Programme (2004) has even described access to justice as a basic human right.
Togo’s judicial system marked by popular distrust, perceptions of corruption
AfrobarometerPauline M Wambua, Carolyn Logan
2017 International observers see Togo's judicial system as suffering from heavy political influence by the presidency, including lengthy pretrial detention for political opponents and impunity for political friends (Freedom House, 2016; US State Department, 2015). Similarly, they largely see Togo's Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission, established to deal with accusations of political violence between 1958 and 2005, as having fallen short of its objectives, leaving “victims who endured human rights abuses… disillusioned by the total impunity that yesterday's perpetrators, still in power, continue to enjoy today”(United Nations Human Rights Office, 2012)...
Popular distrust, perceptions of corruption mark Sierra Leone’s court system
AfrobarometerPauline M Wambua, Carolyn Logan
2017 In its final report, Sierra Leone's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC, 2004) indicted the country's judicial system for its role in the devastating 1991-2002 civil war. Findings ranged from the failure of judges and lawyers to stand up to systematic rights violations and widespread use of illegal detention to rampant corruption and political interference from the executive branch. The government, civil society, and international partners have built on the TRC findings to pursue justice-system reforms, but grave challenges remain, including inadequate funding and staffing, large case backlogs, continuing corruption, and a lack of enforcement of professional standards (Brima, 2015; Human Rights Watch, 2011)...
