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.