Suchergebnisse

Africa's international relations have often been defined and oriented by the dominant international and geopolitical agendas of the day. In the aftermath of colonialism the Cold War became a dominant paradigm that defined the nature of the continent's relationship with the rest of the world. The contemporary forces of globalization are now exerting an undue influence and impact upon Africa's international relations. Increasingly, the African continent is emerging as a vocal, and in some respects an influential, actor in international relations. There is a paucity of analysis and research on

This book explores the ethical dimension of peacebuilding. In the aftermath of the Cold War the hope for a more stable and just international order was rapidly dissolved by the internecine conflicts that plagued all continents. The Rwanda and Srebrenica genocides demonstrated the challenge of promoting peace in a world increasingly defined by intra-state conflict and sub-national groups confronting nation-states. Murithi interrogates the role that ethics plays in promoting and consolidating peacebuilding and presents a synthesis of moral philosophy and international relations and an analysis o

This article argues that during the 2022 Russian Federation invasion of Ukraine, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) failed to create the framework conditions to facilitate the mediation of the crisis due to the systemic constraints created by the veto powers of the Permanent Five (P5) members of the Council. Specifically, the institutional gap created by a dysfunctional UNSC, efforts to mediate ongoing and future crises in which one or more members of the P5 are involved are confronted by the same systemic failure. Given the reality of the UNSC's paralysis and the indefinite postponement of UN reform, this article argues for the need for radical transformation of the international system and the articulation of a new global democratic architecture, which includes a new global infrastructure for mediation. The article concludes with a discussion of how a UN Charter review process can lay the foundation for the establishment of this new global democratic dispensation, which includes a new global infrastructure for mediation.

On 4 March 2013, when Kenyans participated in national presidential and legislative elections, there was wide-spread concern that the underling grievances that erupted during the 2007 and 2008 post-election violence would remerge. However, the polls were relatively peaceful in comparison. This case study will interrogate how mass atrocities were prevented in 2013 in Kenya, despite the prevalence of risk factors which could spark tensions and fuel violence. This article interrogates the local sources of resilience and inhibitors of atrocity crimes and considers the preventive actions that were undertaken and by whom, with a view to understanding what they achieved. In addition, it will assess the outcomes that were achieved as a result of these preventive actions. Through an evaluation of the preventive actions the article will examine which actions proved to be most effective in affecting the risks dynamics of the country in the short, medium and long-term. Kenya's history of violence and failure to uphold accountability and redress for victims, meant that in 2013, it was significantly prone to the scourge of atrocity crimes. This analysis will draw out a number of key lessons for enhancing the prevention of atrocity crimes in the future.

Africa has endured the debilitating effects of cyclical violent conflict for several decades. Despite the existence of well-intentioned policy frameworks and the use of significant resources to stabilise countries, conflicts in the region have remained resistant to resolution. Africa's crises demonstrate that conflicts have a tendency to spill across borders, affecting communities in more than one country. These cases challenge reductionist understandings of traditional interstate and intra-state wars across the continent. The regional nature of conflicts means that the notion of 'civil war' is anachronistic, with increasingly limited descriptive utility.This paper argues that unless concrete efforts are geared towards dealing with the past and promoting regional reconciliation in Africa, the consolidation of peace and security will remain an elusive quest. More specifically, if state resources were deployed in equal measure to lay the foundations for regional reconciliation, this would ultimately be a more effective way to stabilise countries and improve relations with their neighbours. In fact, the pursuit of regional reconciliation could contribute towards the fulfilment of the incomplete project of decolonisation across Africa.

This article will argue that despite its role as a norm entrepreneur the African Union (au), when analysed through the un Secretary-General's 3-Pillar framework of responsibility, has only had limited success and faced significant constraints in promoting Pan-African norms relating to sovereignty and non-interference, governance and development in order to achieve human protection and the prevention of mass atrocities. Human protection refers to protection of civilians from human rights abuses with a particular focus on mass atrocity crimes. This article will also assess the evolving au-un partnership and conclude by assessing the limits of norm building and propose strategies for enhancing human protection in Africa.