Expertise Summary

David E. Kiwuwa is an Associate Professor in the School of International Studies. Previously he was Acting Head of School, Deputy Head of School and currently the School Director of Research and Faculty Coordinator of the Distinguished Speakers’ Series. He earned his PhD at the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham UK where he was later Faculty in both SPIIR and the School of History before his secondment to Ningbo. Most recently he was a visiting fellow, Sydney Democratic Network, School of Social Sciences at University of Sydney (Australia), a visiting research Fung Global Fellow, at Princeton Institute of International and Regional Studies, Princeton University (USA), and a previous winner of the Lord Bryce prize of the Political Science Association. His research mainly looks at democratic transition and democratization processes in deeply divided societies, ethnic and nationalism politics, conflict analysis, electoral studies and China-Africa contemporary political relations. He is a published author with a major academic press and a number of discipline Journals. He is a political commentator who has been often quoted in a number of leading presses around the world and his opinion pieces carried by CNN, the Guardian, The Conversation to mention but a few.

Principal research interests

• Democratic Theory, Democratic Transition and Comparative Democratization
• Conflict and Post conflict Reconstruction
• Ethno-politics, Violence and Ethnic Conflict
• Politics and Political Systems of Sub-Saharan Africa, African Politics
• China-Africa Relations

Current Research Projects

• The Politics of Language: From Francophone to Anglophone, the Rwandan Dilemma
• Trust and Democratization: The Case of Rwanda
• Bringing Culture back in; The CCP and Chinese Cultural leadership
• China and the Politics of Infrastructural Development in the Global South

Undergraduate

• Introduction to Comparative Politics (Year 2)
• Introduction to European Politics (Year 3)
• Policies, Policy making and Law in the European Union (Year 3)
• Nationalism, Ethnicity and the State (Year 4)

Postgraduate

• Issues in Contemporary Political Communication (Post Graduate)
• Peace and Conflict Resolution
• Democratization in Asia, Africa and Latin America

Previous taught/developed programmes:

2003-2007 – Convenor and or tutor (UON), (a) Power and Leadership: Democracy and the State (b) Power and Leadership: Beyond Institutional Democracy, Security and Foreign Policy Analysis, Problems in Global Politics, Politics and Political Systems of Sub-Saharan Africa, History of Great Power Intervention in Africa, War and the Clash of Ideologies, The Contemporary World Since 1945, Imperialism and Decolonisation (undergraduate); (UNNC) Introduction to European Politics; Understanding the Politics of the European Union  

PhD Supervision

I welcome supervision of PhD projects on the broad areas of ethnic, identity and nationalists conflict, democratic transition and democratisation, security and peacekeeping, Nation and Peace Building and Conflict Resolution, post conflict reconstruction and Regime types and China-Africa Relations. I have a general specialism on areas of Great Lakes Region and Rwanda in particular. 

Former PhD student:

Li Kanzhen: China and its Peacekeeping role in Africa (completed)