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The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the socio-economic and health dimensions of many societies across the world. For those in urban informal settlements, direct and indirect negative impacts of the pandemic and the resulting government policies have had devastating consequences on their livelihood. As the virus continues to spread rapidly, the more popular measures such as curfews, lockdown, and working from home have overlooked the fate of slum dwellers, who are left to choose between life and livelihood. This article examines the unique challenges people in informal settlements are facing during the pandemic. It focuses on the city of Nairobi, which has several informal settlements where more than 4 million people reside. The authors note that a combination of systematic marginalization, poor policies, and inadequate planning has left millions of people in Nairobi vulnerable to the direct and indirect impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The article concludes that as the virus continues to spread rapidly and the emerging socio-economic challenges undermine government's capacity to respond to the crisis, support from other stakeholders such as social workers may have a positive impact.

How does the 2020-2022 civil war in Ethiopia contribute to our understanding of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine? This study seeks to revisit the debate over the effectiveness of the R2P doctrine in the wake of increased intrastate conflicts. The objective is to assess the dilemma that arises with the implementation of R2P when governments are involved in the conflict and the international community is reluctant or unable to intervene. The study adopts the systematic review approach (PRISMA) to identify the shortcomings, trends, and debates around R2P. It uses the Ethiopian civil war to contribute further to the existing body of literature. The paper finds that, indeed, the R2P doctrine is facing serious challenges with its implementation. It shows that when governments fail to acknowledge the other actors as legitimate combatants and instead describe them as terrorist groups, it becomes difficult to uphold the R2P doctrine. The paper also identifies a lack of leadership and coordinated efforts at regional and international levels as contributing factors, which further undermine the effectiveness of R2P. The paper concludes that the Ethiopian civil war exposes serious shortcomings in the R2P doctrine that need to be reviewed and reformed urgently. It proposes the adoption of a systems-thinking approach that can streamline the actors and processes of response during civil wars.

South Sudan has not escaped the world's attention even after the signing of the infamous Revitalized Peace Agreement in September 2018 that for the 12th time brought the two antagonists –Kiir and Dr. Machar to the negotiation table since the conflict began in 2013. Even with the aura of a shaky peace, the main question is whether the new agreement will stand the test of time going by the history of the failed implementation of peace agreements. This paper recognizes the vital nature of the prevailing peace and questions about whether consociational democracy can be propped up during this period of relative peace. Discussions are hinged on the consociationalism theory that contains a broad array of principles, including power sharing, requisite for consociational democracy. It argues that although South Sudan's context could favor consociational democracy, there are several barriers characterizing Sudan's social and political spheres that should be alleviated. We elucidate on the barriers and suggest in broad strokes the need for strong independent institutions and vibrant civil society amongst others. We also recognize that overreliance on individuals in resolving the conflict is detrimental to the young nation, and there is a need for a citizen-centered approach that entrenches consociational principles in South Sudan's political sphere.

South Sudan has not escaped the world's attention even after the signing of the infamous Revitalized Peace Agreement in September 2018 that, for the 12th time, brought the two antagonists –Kiir and Dr. Machar, to the negotiation table since the conflict began in 2013. Even with the aura of a shaky peace, the main question is whether the new Agreement will stand the test of time, going on the history of the failed implementation ofpeace agreements. This paper recognises the essential nature of the prevailing peace and questions whether consociational democracy can be propped up during this period of relative stability. Discussions are hinged on the consociationalism theory that contains a broad array of principles, including power-sharing, requisite for consociational democracy. It argues that although South Sudan's context could favour consociationaldemocracy, several barriers characterising Sudan's social and political spheres should be alleviated. We elucidate on the obstacles and suggest in broad strokes the need for solid independent institutions and vibrant civil society, amongst others. We also recognise that overreliance on individuals in resolving the conflict is detrimental to the young nation. Hence, there is a need for a citizen-centred approach that entrenchesconsociational principles in South Sudan's political sphere.

Maintaining global peace and security remains an essential concern for many actors in the international system. To achieve this goal, both states and international organizations commend that action needs to be taken against perceived threats to national and international security. However, how to respond to these threats continues to divide the world. The declining role of the UN in peace enforcement, emergence of non-state actors, new forms of threats, and increasing unilateral actions by states have raised questions over the legitimacy of who, when, and how these actions can be taken. This article seeks to examine how international actors respond to transnational counterterrorism events. It adopts a comparative case study to discuss how regional and international actors reacted to Saudi Arabia's Operation Decisive Storm in Yemen (2015) and Turkey's Operation Peace Spring in Northern Syria (2019). It draws important similarities in the justification of both countries' actions and the varying responses and attitudes these countries have received for their actions. The study identifies the lack of international consensus on transnational counterterrorism as a catalyst in the crisis being witnessed in crisis resolution. Factors such as timing, universality of the threat, prevailing circumstances, actors involved, and mode of operation shape international response on transnational actions.

AbstractThis article examines an emerging trend of cross‐border conflicts between states and non‐state actors. It looks at the narratives fronted by Turkey and Saudi Arabia to justify their operations in northern Syria and Yemen, respectively. The authors argue that the increased inaction and lack of influence by the UN in response to such operations reaffirm states as the core actors in international politics and that national security and interests continue to shape the behavior of actors at the international level. The article concludes that the UN needs to adjust to the new forms of conflicts, actors, and behavior being experienced at the international level if it is to retain its relevance as an anchor of peace and international security.

The
democratization process in Africa opened up space
for the emergence of several political parties across the continent as most
countries moved from one-party rule to
multi-party democracy. This tectonic shift signaled
a new beginning in the political arena, and there were expectations that equal
representation in the political sphere
would be a by-product of the democratization process. This paper underscores
the challenge of gender inequality in representative politics and as it would be expected in patriarchal societies; women
shoulder the brunt of marginalization in the political arena. It argues that despite the inclusion of
gender-responsive texts in political parties' manifestoes and constitution, the
gender gap is still burgeoning. It
recommends that political parties should come up with pragmatic strategies to enhance gender equality and cease to
include gender texts as mere political rhetoric.

Chapter 1: Introduction -- Chapter 2: The Origins of Conflict In Somalia: A Historical Context -- Chapter 3: Clan Configuration and Identity Networks in Somalia -- Chapter 4: Spatial (Un)Governance and Its Application in Somalia -- Chapter 5: Complexity of Somalia Conflict: Features and Actors -- Chapter 6: Socio-Economic and Political Consequences of the Somali Conflict -- Chapter 7: Impact of the Somali Conflict on National and Regional Security -- Chapter 8: Conclusion.