Ben Radley
Associate Professor in International Development
Researching the political economy of mining , energy and labour in the context of green transitions, with a regional focus on Africa and Asia-Pacific. Also writing on the history, theory and praxis of development and development studies.
Academic
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Blogs &
Op-eds
Op-ed for Al Jazeera
April 2025
Blog for RS21
June 2024
Blog for roape.net
April 2024
Blog for EADI, with Jörg Wiegratz and others
September 2023
Letter to The Financial Times, with Sara Stevano and others
September 2023
Book review for African Arguments, of Siddharth Kara's Cobalt Red
March 2023
Blog for The Conversation
August 2022
Blog for The Conversation
February 2022
Blog for The Conversation, with Rachel Niehuus and others
February 2022
Book review for Africa is a Country, of Leo Zeilig’s The World Turned Upside Down
October 2021
Blog for Developing Economics
March 2021
Blog for Intel Congo
August 2020
Blog for Africa is a Country
June 2020
Webinar guest for University of Oxford and LSE, with Xiaolan Fu
May 2020
Blog for Centre for Development Studies, University of Bath
April 2020
Educational piece for Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
October 2019
Blog for International Institute of Social Studies
September 2019
Blog for Developing Economics
May 2019
Blog for Centre for Development Studies, University of Bath
May 2019
Blog for roape.net
February 2019
Blog for African Arguments
March 2018
Blog for The Conversation
June 2017
Photo story for Deutsche Welle
April 2017
Op-ed for Jeune Afrique, with Philippe Alexandre Sondji
March 2017
Blog for roape.net
February 2016
Op-ed for the The Guardian, with Georgia Cole and Jean-Benoit Falisse
July 2015
Op-ed for Al Jazeera, with Christoph Vogel
September 2014
Blog for The Washington Post, with Christoph Vogel
September 2014
Blog for Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa
September 2013
Podcasts & Webinars
The Why Africa Podcast
In 2022, Cynthia Kamwengo and I co-hosted the Why Africa Podcast mini-series, produced and edited by Holly Jewell. Over five episodes, we spoke to students and academics engaged in the work of deconstructing and reconstructing how Africa and its people are taught and researched in the UK education system today.
Between 2013 and 2015, filmmaker Seth Chase and I co-wrote and co-produced the award-winning, feature-length documentary We Will Win Peace. The film charts why and how the Western-led conflict minerals campaign had an adverse and harmful impact on the lives of many Congolese it was designed to help. Released in 2016, the film has screened at festivals and universities across Africa, Europe, and North America, and sold in over 30 countries worldwide.
The Review of African Political Economy (ROAPE) was established in 1974 by a group of scholars and activists in the UK and Africa. The journal and its website are committed to understanding projects of radical transformation on the continent. As a member of the journal's Editorial Working Group, I interview and commission contributions from radical scholars, scholar-activists, and activists researching and/or contributing to these projects for publication on ROAPE's website. Occasionally, I write there myself. Below is a selection of some of these pieces.
Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja Congolese historian and scholar-activist
Esther Stanford-Xosei Reparations activist and historian
Bienvenu Matumo Congolese activist & co-founder of La LUCHA
Amilcar Cabral
Isaac Samuel