Tag: Africa

Are women a missing link in Africa’s peace process? Interrogating women’s involvement in peacebuilding and conflict resolution in precolonial, colonial and postcolonial Africa

Are women a missing link in Africa’s peace process? Interrogating women’s involvement in peacebuilding and conflict resolution in precolonial, colonial and postcolonial Africa

Posted by | Jun 8, 2026 |

This paper locates peacebuilding within the context of selected African countries with a focus on Zimbabwe; highlighting the intersection between gender and peacebuilding. The central argument in this paper is that gender relations and its relationship to peacebuilding in Africa must be understood within the context of the disruptions brought by European colonialism, struggles for self-determination and independence and post-independence struggles to construct new nation-states. The paper provides a sociohistorical analysis of gender relations in pre-colonial and colonial Africa and attempts to draw parallels with the postcolonial African state. It argues that a complex combination of these processes gave rise to exclusive, androcentric and elite driven peace processes in the postcolonial state. In examining women’s struggles for equality and social justice in the postcolonial state, the paper highlights how civic society and the civic space has come to be synonymous with women and women’s struggles to influence the peace process. Building on indigenous models of conflict resolution, the paper critically engages the concept of Ubuntu and appraises how it can be appropriated to re-insert women’s peace agency in postcolonial Africa. The paper concludes by examining options for increasing women’s involvement in conflict resolution and peacebuilding in postcolonial Africa.

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Navigating Political Fragility: The Challenges of Women Peacebuilders in Militarised Political Contexts in Africa

Navigating Political Fragility: The Challenges of Women Peacebuilders in Militarised Political Contexts in Africa

Posted by | Jul 9, 2025 |

Considering that unconstitutional changes of government (UCGs) border around the human and political security of the continent, a crucial question is, what are the challenges women peacebuilders face following UCGs? Using Chad and Niger as case studies and drawing on feminist theory, this paper examines the challenges women encounter in the execution of their peace work in countries that have experienced UCGs. This work includes mediation, community mobilisation, education, and raising awareness of income-generating activities, amongst others. This paper finds that although women are actively participating in fostering peace at the grassroots level, UCGs make their work more challenging due to rising insecurity, suppression of freedoms, and exacerbation of systemic gender discrimination. It notes that without a resolution to the broader issue of UCGs, women peacebuilders will find it challenging to participate in peacebuilding in these contexts. Finally, the paper concludes that addressing the challenges women peacebuilders face and adopting a human security approach to UCGs are essential for sustaining women’s contribution to peace and security.

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African Biodiversity Loss: Food Insecurity and the Rising Risk to Human Security

African Biodiversity Loss: Food Insecurity and the Rising Risk to Human Security

Posted by | Jan 10, 2025 |

According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), over 6,400 animals and 3,100 plants in Africa are at risk of extinction. The decline of Africa’s abundant ecological biodiversity poses a significant threat to millions of livelihoods. It exacerbates food insecurity and conflicts over land, leading to volatile agropastoral and geopolitical contentions over gazing land. The conversion of natural habitat to low-yielding cultivated land and climate change are dominant drivers amongst other primary human-induced factors contributing to biodiversity loss in Africa. In arid and semi-arid areas, the decline in biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystems adversely affect soil quality and vegetation, influencing agricultural productivity. In this paper, it will be argued that the loss of biodiversity is a result of human pressure and climate change, along with other factors contributing to food and rising human insecurity in Africa. This paper attempts to provide strategic pathways for climate actions in mitigating biodiversity loss and improving human security. It suggests that for Africa to address the challenges of biodiversity loss and improve food and human security in the short and mid-term, effective multilateral ecological diplomacy should be adopted through the African Union (AU)and Regional Economic Communities (RECs). For the methodological approach, qualitative and quantitative descriptive and interdisciplinary research methodology, which allows the use of primary and secondary sources, was adopted in this study.

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Chronicles of African Engagement: Beyond a Dualist Reading of Foreign Intervention

Chronicles of African Engagement: Beyond a Dualist Reading of Foreign Intervention

Posted by | Aug 21, 2024 |

Over the past two decades, the conflict management and peacebuilding (CM/PB) domain has undergone significant transformations. This has resulted in a shift from traditional Western-centric approach to a more crowded CM/PB market that is particularly evident in the African continent. However, academic discourse has evolved from evaluating the effectiveness of the liberal peace model, to scrutinising the characteristics of an alleged alternative CM/PB paradigm proposed by these rising powers. Drawing on a (neo)realist perspective, the study proposes two lines of argumentation to advance a new research agenda. Firstly, it explores the supply side of CM/PB policies by emphasising the motivations and policy choices driven primarily by strategic interests and the regime survival of intervening states. Secondly, it analyses the demand side of CM/PB by highlighting the active role of intervened states in shaping intervention strategies based on their interests and preferences. Through illustrative examples from Africa, this paper demonstrates how national interests and host states’ agency intersect to shape CM/PB strategies. The article challenges simplistic categorisations of Western/liberal versus Eastern/illiberal CM/PB, and advocates for a nuanced understanding that considers the complexities of global power dynamics and national interests.

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Rethinking the Securitization of Public Health in Africa: A Frame of Reference

Rethinking the Securitization of Public Health in Africa: A Frame of Reference

Posted by | Dec 9, 2021 |

Drawing from the growing literature on the securitisation of public health in general and, in particular, that of infectious diseases in Africa, this paper explores the process through which certain health issues are perceived as security and existential threats. It uses securitisation theory as its theoretical and conceptual foundation to offer a critical analysis of the securitisation of public health in the African continent and its implications before presenting a frame of reference, a better and more constructive way of strengthening health systems in the continent.

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