Notably, most of the countries on his African tour maintain significant relations with the west. Hosting a high-profile visit from Lavrov is not intended to scuttle these ties. Rather, it is an attempt to gain more leverage vis-à-vis the west.
AuthorDr Joseph Siegle
Director of Research, Africa Center for Strategic Studies, University of Maryland.
Dr. Joseph Siegle leads the Africa Center’s research program that aims to generate policy relevant analyses that contribute to addressing Africa’s security challenges. Dr. Siegle’s research interests include understanding the role of governance in advancing security and development; security trends in Africa; stabilization of fragile states; democratic transitions; and strengthening institutions of democratic accountability. He has written widely for leading policy journals and newspapers and is a regular media analyst.
Prior to joining the Africa Center, he was a Douglas Dillon Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, a senior research scholar at the University of Maryland’s Center for International and Security Studies, and a senior advisor for democratic governance at DAI. For more than a decade, he served in various field capacities throughout Africa as well as in Asia and the Balkans with the international NGO, World Vision, and as a Peace Corps Volunteer.
Dr. Siegle holds a doctorate in international security and economic policy from the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy and a master’s in agricultural economics, with an emphasis on African food security, from Michigan State University.