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RVI publishes books, research reports, research papers, briefings and meeting reports in a range of formats. Publications cover policy, research, arts, culture and local knowledge in the countries of eastern and central Africa. Research publications—books, reports and papers—are peer-reviewed. Some RVI publications are also available in French and/or Arabic.
The RVI is a signatory of the Budapest Open Access Initiative (2001); all publications are free for download in PDF format under Creative Commons licences. The views expressed in books and reports published by the RVI are those of the authors, not the Institute.
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SUMMARY • Despite its predominantly Muslim surrounding area, Jimma is one of the most heterogeneous cities in Ethiopia’s Oromia region. Unlike other Ethiopian cities and towns, Jimma has not seen any major inter-religious or -ethnic clashes since the fall…
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY With Somalia’s official entry into the East African Community (EAC) on 24 November 2023, this paper intends to present and analyse the challenges and opportunities its integration might have. Thus, the study uses primary data collected from…
UNDERSTANDING THE LOSS OF ELEPHANTS IN SOUTH SUDAN Introduction Elephants are iconic animals in South Sudan, featuring on bank notes and state flags and in many myths and sayings. ‘When the elephants fight, the grass suffers’ is one example…
Executive summary This policy paper assesses the revised National Security Architecture (NSArch) in Somalia, pinpointing critical deficiencies and presenting policy recommendations to fortify the national security framework. Central to this analysis are questions surrounding the effectiveness of the NSArch,…
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This paper explores the possibilities of Somalia’s transition from a clan-based system of the allocation of political authority to multipartyism. In so doing, the paper adopted qualitiative methods of data collection and analysis. The paper shows that…
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In 2021 RVI celebrated the 20-year anniversary of its founding in southern Sudan in 2001. As part of these celebrations, we decided to produce an Anthology of our published work over the last two decades: 20 chapters to mark…
SUMMARY Sudan’s economy is based on resources that have been exploited via violence rather than through peaceful, sustainable means. As a result, those who have benefited are those who control the means of violence. Furthermore, the inequalities in wealth,…
SUMMARY The Juba Peace Agreement (JPA) was negotiated beginning in September 2019 in the South Sudanese capital by representatives of Sudan’s new civilian-military transitional government and a collection of Sudan’s armed and civilian opposition groups comprising the Sudanese Revolutionary…
Recent Publications

The Revivalist-Restorationist Motives of the Great Tradition: Mnemonic intent and actor dynamics in Ethiopia
November 13, 2026
Tracing the genealogy and current state of revivalism and restorationism of the Great Tradition (GT) within the memory landscape in Ethiopia reveals dynamic mnemonic strategies and vocabularies that evolve across successive historical regimes and various state and non-state mnemonic agents.

Writing Ethiopia into the World, Writing the World from Ethiopia
October 7, 2026
The Ethiopian Women Researchers Network (EWNET) hosted an online scholarly webinar on Friday, 30 January 2026, titled ‘Writing Ethiopia into the World and Writing the World from Ethiopia’. The webinar examined how Ethiopia has been represented within global knowledge production

The Political Economy of Coffee in the Kaffa–Bench-Sheko–Sheka Belt, Southwest Ethiopia Region
October 6, 2026
This study provides a critical political economy analysis of the coffee sector in the Kaffa–Bench-Sheko–Sheka belt in Southwest Ethiopia Peoples’ Regional State, the genetic and cultural heartland of Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica). Based on 47 key respondent interviews, the study