Collective Approach to Peace, Security and Development
Conflict
is one of the drivers of the prevailing underdevelopment and poverty across
Africa. The persistence of old conflicts and protracted nature of others, as
well as, emergence of new conflicts only help to delay the realization of the
African dream of achieving sustainable peace, security and development. In the
current world of complex emergencies, no single state can exclusively and
satisfactorily respond to the scourge of conflict and war, and the challenges
of security and peace-building to ensure equal peace for all. In my view, this
is a multi-state and multi-actor endeavor that requires concerted efforts.
Furthermore, the fluidness of conflict and globalization have, in our time, profoundly
challenged the conventional state-centric theories and approaches to peace,
security and development hence questioning the tenability of approaches to peace-building that focus on the state alone, especially in complex transitional
environments that characterize many African countries. But states, in their
nature, continue to cling to old state-centric approaches. They talk of collectivism but often retreat to the same old cocoon of suspicions of realism.
Each continue to engage in certain secretive unilateral pursuit of national
interests. Unfortunately, such undertakings seem to injure more than they cure
the security challenges of our time. But what is it that can drive states to genuinely
work together especially on matters security? We need more and new theorization
on collective approaches to peace, security and development in Africa.
Collective Approach to Peace, Security and Development
Reviewed by Ibrahim Magara
on
May 26, 2016
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