Ambassador (ret.) Alex Laskaris, University of Florida.
The Success of Autocracy in Africa
Visiting scholar Alex Laskaris will speak on the success of autocracy in Africa, reflecting both on his tenure as the US Ambassador to Chad as well as the work he has been doing at the University of Florida. Drawing on his time as the Deputy to the Commander at US Africa Command, he will also discuss civil-military relations in Africa as well as the evolution of counter-insurgency efforts in the Sahel.
Alex Laskaris retired from the U.S. Department of State in March and arrived at the University of Florida’s Center for African Studies four months later where he is writing about his time in Chad and developing three new courses. Over a 34-year career, he served in Liberia, Botswana, Egypt, Angola, Burundi, Kosovo, Iraq, Guinea, Germany and Chad. He also served at the US Mission to the United Nations in New York, the Policy Planning Staff of the State Department, and on the Faculty of the National War College in Washington DC. His interest in African affairs began with a college-era lecture by playwright Athol Fugard, which led him to a two-year stint as a high school math and English teacher in the last days of Apartheid South Africa