Suchergebnisse

During the 1990s, nine out of ten of the bloodiest conflicts occurred on the African continent. And despite some 20 peacebuilding operations in Africa in the last 25 years there is still a significant lack of cohesive strategy to target the key areas in the regeneration of a conflict-ridden country. An Afrocentric perspective is therefore a suitable starting point for research into the possible strategies for post-conflict peacebuilding. This book explores South Africa's policy imperatives to integrate development projects and peace missions, involving the military as well as civilian organisations. While this book is not intended as an instruction manual, it hopes to ignite an understanding of the particular processes required to develop a sustainable and cohesive post-conflict peacebuilding strategy within the African environment.

Following the end of the Cold War and significant changes in the international community, Chinese leaders moved from a reluctant stand in United Nations (UN) activities to a position of active cooperation in UN peacekeeping. In fact, China became the biggest contributor of troops to UN peacekeeping operations among the permanent members of the Security Council. Towards the mid-2000s, China was involved in all seven UN peacekeeping operations on the African continent. This dramatic surge in Chinese peacekeeping participation coincided with Beijing's efforts in the early 2000s to deliberately expand its economic and diplomatic influence globally through trade and diplomatic links, as well as through its participation in international organisations, including UN peacekeeping operations. However, there have always been limits to China's involvement in peacekeeping operations. Beijing's views on peacekeeping have consistently been based on a sound respect for state sovereignty and the principle of non-intervention. In this context, this article points out that on the one hand, China is increasingly expected to concern itself with the global responsibilities of a great power,but as its strategic and material interests have become more integrated and entangled with the African continent, Beijing is more and more compelled to consider its national interest and to protect those interestsin Africa. Consequently, China's growing involvement in peacekeeping has become more difficult to reconcile with the country's commitment to non-interventionism, particularly as witnessed in the case of South Sudan.

Since South Africa held its first non-racial and democratic elections international expectations regarding South Africa's role as a member of the international community have grown. These have ranged from the hope that South Africa, like other African states, will play a responsible role in the resolution of various intra-state conflicts in Africa, to an expectation that South Africa will play an increasing leadership role in subregional, regional and even international organisations in respect of peace support operations. On paper South Africa's military capabilities appear impressive, but in reality there are certain impediments to a major role for the South African National Defence Force. Notwithstanding such impediments and the novelty ofsuch operations to South Africa, it would seem that tire sheer force of circumstance is likely to propel South Africa into the subregional and African peace suppon operations arena. Accordingly, tire South African government have attempted to fonnulate a coherent policy on peace suppon operations with a view to responding pro-actively and constructively to the expectations and challenges. This article will assess the premises and considerations as regards South Africa's commitment to participation in peace support operations.

In 2015, South Africa has dropped out of the Kearney Foreign Direct Investment Confidence Index for the first time since its inception in 1998. Although many resource companies have diverted their investments away from emerging markets in 2014, South Africa also had perception issues driven by lower growth and rating downgrades by the leading international rating agencies. The question arises whether political, economic and social conditions in South Africa are currently posing greater political risk for potential investment than during the 1990s to mid-2000s. This calls for a fresh assessment of relevant indicators or variables in the South African context. In other words, what is needed is an analysis of relevant political risk indicators that are based on a sound intellectual tradition and practical logic. Against this background, this study is an attempt to revisit and analyse current political risk in South Africa on the basis of a selected set of indicators or variables that are commonly and internationally used in risk analysis frameworks.

The word "terrorism" has been used in various political and policy contexts, and studied in several scholarly disciplines. Most contemporary writing on terrorism focuses on the international dimensions or manifestations of terrorism. However, in Africa, sub- national terror (and even state terror) has been a feature of conflict on the African continent. This ranges from amorphous internationally connected groups in which people locally band together around a religious paradigm, to rebels who terrify civilians in civil wars, e.g. the armed movements in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Specifically, the north-eastern and eastern parts of the DRC have been major conflict zones where sub-national or domestic terrorists employed and continue to employ terror as a strategy. This paper examines rebel movements in the DRC as a phenomenon of sub-national terrorism – a phenomenon that manifests in life-and-death struggles over access to mineral resources and where there is a clear correlation between conflict and the accumulation of resources.