Peacebuilding In Africa Research Articles

The Case for Arts in Reconciliation and Peacebuilding in Africa

In the aftermath of a violent conflict, especially where there have been mass atrocities, violations of the rule of law and human rights abuses, the achievement of reconciliation and peacebuilding remains an immensely difficult challenge. Recently, arts-based approaches to reconciliation and peacebuilding have been supported as an emerging area of research and practice. It is increasingly being seen as a central facet of peace-building and transitional justice. Despite this, arts-based approaches to peacebuilding as an area of study and practice remain under-researched. There remains a gap in understanding the impact community-devised arts projects can have on peace formation amongst diverse actors. This paper fills this gap by analysing the academic evidence to determine how arts can positively promote peacebuilding, healing, reconciliation, and social transformation in Africa. The paper highlights the role that arts and cultural programmes play as part of a spectrum of interventions linking culture, security, and development to sustainable peace. The findings show how arts can be utilised as a powerful means of communication. It suggests programmes that could serve as measures when locally led with an understanding founded in local cultural traditions. The research draws caution against the ability of arts to transform conflict-ridden areas where there is propaganda and underlying agendas. This paper identifies possible future agendas of research and practice that could create evidence based on the role that arts play in peacebuilding and policies to ensure sustainable peace and reconciliation.

Regional Economic Communities and Peace Building in Africa: Lessons from ECOWAS and IGAD, edited by Victor Adetula, Redie Bereketeab, and Cyril Obi

Regional Economic Communities and Peace Building in Africa: Lessons from ECOWAS and IGAD, edited by Victor Adetula, Redie Bereketeab, and Cyril Obi

Empowering communities for peace: Multitrack strategies for sustainable peacebuilding in Africa

The paper discusses approaches and analyzes strategies that has the potential to effectively address the root causes of conflicts and promote long-lasting peace in Africa. The study utilizes the concept of multitrack diplomacy theory to explore various interventions and strategies that might contribute to the transformation and prevention of conflicts. It emphasizes the importance of comprehensive approaches that involve citizen diplomats, political elites, religious leaders, NGOs, the media, conflict resolution educators, and traditional rulers. The paper underscores the need to involve and empower local communities to give them a sense of ownership and authority over peacebuilding initiatives. Storytelling, interfaith activities, legal accountability, and education are recognized as useful methods for promoting reconciliation, preventing trauma, and developing the ability to resolve conflicts. The literature indicates that adopting a relationship-focused strategy, bolstered by multitrack diplomacy and local empowerment, can play a role in achieving lasting peace in Africa and other regions. The paper offers pragmatic insights for policymakers, practitioners, and stakeholders engaged in peacebuilding endeavors. It emphasizes the significance of promoting conversation, harmony, and shared comprehension while taking into account the specific requirements, objectives, and resolutions of the local community. By employing these tactics, individuals or groups with a vested interest in a particular issue can actively strive to bring an end to harmful disputes and facilitate inclusive processes of change that foster positive and enduring peace.

Towards Improved Gender Inclusive Peacebuilding in Africa: Policy Implications

Purpose: Although several earlier studies have looked at peacebuilding and its limiting aspects, research on gender-inclusive peacebuilding dimensions remains limited, especially in Africa. Global events have continued to emphasise the inextricable pertinence of the interconnectedness between peace, conflict and gender. This reinforces how masculinity crises cause violence against some other genders. This study sought to examine gender- inclusive peacebuilding gaps in Africa and provide policy suggestions for improvements. Methods: Qualitative research methodology was employed through an analysis of secondary data gleaned from available work obtained from academics, peace experts, research reports, international agencies and various organizations. Results & conclusion: The study shows that conflict dynamics are essentially gendered and made out of gendered identities. Developing gender-inclusive peacebuilding processes, exclusively being attentive to intersectionality, involves bringing different views into peacebuilding processes. For improvement, some strategies and opportunities should involve altering power imbalances within structures to promote peace. Originality/Value: This is one of the few studies that establishes gender inclusive peacebuilding in the African continent and provides cross-cutting policy implications rather than those that are country specific. Moreover, gender inclusive peacebuilding is a topical issue that occupies the peacebuilding global agenda.

The Nexus Between Religion, Conflict and Peacebuilding in Africa and Policy Implications

Purpose: The nexus between peacebuilding, conflict, and religion has been portrayed too often in a binary way where religion has been viewed either as a source of conflict or peacebuilding. This perception obscures the intricacy of the nexus showing that not much is understood about religion. This study sought to understand how religion interacts with human experience at the national and international levels to provide a detailed understanding of how it relates to peacebuilding and conflict in Africa. Methods: A qualitative and interpretive approach is employed predicated on a critical literature review of documents from various sources. Results and conclusions: It is revealed that religion should not be seen as an isolated or static entity, but viewed as a fluid system, dependent on historical and contextual variables. Experts, academics, and policymakers must be cautious not to give unjustified eminence to religion because it is not always a main factor in every conflict. Originality/Value: For a long time conflict and peacebuilding in the continent has been not vigorously included the religious sector. Where the religious community has been involved it has generally been initiated at a country level by peacebuilding actors without much amplification at the continental level. This is one of the few studies if any that champions this matter and complement the African Union’s African Peacebuilding and Security Architecture.

Jacinta Maweu and Admire Mare, eds. Media, Conflict and Peacebuilding In Africa: Conceptual and Empirical Considerations. New York, Routledge. 2021. Illustrations. Index. 280 pp. $42.36. Paper. ISBN: 9780367726508.

Jacinta Maweu and Admire Mare, eds. Media, Conflict and Peacebuilding In Africa: Conceptual and Empirical Considerations. New York, Routledge. 2021. Illustrations. Index. 280 pp. $42.36. Paper. ISBN: 9780367726508.

Peace Building in Africa

Africa has been the theatre of conflicts since the end of the Cold War. Intra-state conflicts have particularly taken a heavy toll on human lives in the past two decades. The state of insecurity in the continent has retarded socio-economic and political goals and set the continent decades back in all development indices. Consequently, Africans have witnessed unprecedented levels of misery and human suffering. This makes peace building an important engagement in the continent as a necessary tool to re-establish security and initiate the process of nation-building in war ravaged countries in the continent. This paper is a contribution to the debate on the place of peace building in a troubled continent. The analysis is dependent on secondary sources: the internet, textbooks, newspapers and magazines. The paper discussed the roles of local level involvement, government/state institutions and international partners and organizations in peace building in Africa. Identified challenges to peace building are the conception of peace building as a post conflict engagement by the international community, lack of capacity and proper coordination, lack of resources and external influence, and control of the process and programmes. To surmount these challenges, the paper recommended the involvement of local actors in the design and implementation of peace building programmes, indigenous capacity building, and central coordination of peace building initiatives.

Climbing the Journey to Successful Peacebuilding in Africa through the Public Participation Model: Lessons for the Tana River Conflict, Kenya

Climbing the Journey to Successful Peacebuilding in Africa through the Public Participation Model: Lessons for the Tana River Conflict, Kenya

Cameroon-Nigeria Border Conflict Prevention and Resolution Over the Bakassi Peninsula, 1884 – 2008: Model for Peacebuilding in Africa

Purpose: Relations between Nigeria and Cameroon have been strained for a number of years due to conflicts over the ownership and administration of the resource-rich Bakassi Peninsula. After independence, Cameroon and Nigeria accepted the colonial borders, but Nigerian authorities decided in 1980 to question these borders. Following several failed diplomatic attempts to prevent and resolve the conflict, Cameroon approached the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague with a petition on March 29, 1994 and at the end of the process which lasted eight years, the ICJ rendered its final verdict on October 10, 2002 in favour of Cameroon. This study seeks to examine the geopolitics and historical context of the Bakassi dispute. It argues that, the different conflict prevention measures adopted through the creation of the Joint Cameroon–Nigeria Border Commission in 1965; Yaounde I Declaration of August 14, 1970; Yaounde II Declaration of April 4, 1971; Kano Declaration of September 1, 1974; Maroua Declaration of June 1, 1975; and the activities of the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission from 2002 to 2007 provided a model for dialogue and mediation in the prevention of armed conflicts in Africa.
 Methodology: The study utilized primary and secondary sources to investigate the measures adopted in preventing the conflict and to ascertain that the methods of conflict resolution such as mediation, bilateral negotiation, facilitation, adjudication, agreement and dialogue applied were very successful.
 Findings: The study concludes that, addressing the shortcomings of conflict prevention and resolution mechanisms could improve stability, guarantee security and maintain peace. The study recommends that, governments, the general public, litigants, mediators and policymakers involved in the prevention and resolution of border conflicts should be educated and trained on alternative dispute resolution processes in Africa.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Policy and Practice: This study contributes to theory, policy and practice in the sense that, conflict prevention through dialogue, creation of joint and mixed commissions, and the arrival of consensus through declarations and agreements have significant potentials for handling and resolving the growing number of armed border conflicts in Africa.

Vocational and technical education for sustainable development: A roadmap to peace building and socio-economic reconstruction in Africa

This study provided critical examination of policy formulation and implementation of Vocational and Technical Education (VTE) in some African countries. The study brought to fore relevance of VTE in engendering peace building and socio-economic development in Africa by examining four African countries: Nigeria, Botswana, Tanzania and Algeria. Apart from Nigeria in West Africa, three other countries were randomly selected one each from South, East and North Africa respectively. Juxtaposition of the objectives of VTE in the four countries was made. The study advocated a holistic implementation of policies on VTE in the African continent. Thus, it critically examined the concepts of vocational and technical education, relationship between vocational and technical skills acquisition and peace building in Africa. It also considered the roles of VTE in socio-economic reconstruction in the continent and how VTE engenders peace among the youths. National governments of each nation should give VTE due attention that makes school children and youths acquire work-related and work-based skills which will guarantee their employability after leaving schools rather than being school leavers who lack the required employable skills in the labour market. The study concluded that if this is done, every youth will be gainfully engaged and have no time for idleness and restiveness.

IbrahimBangura, editor. Youth‐Led Social Movements and Peacebuilding in Africa. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2022

Peace & ChangeEarly View BOOK REVIEW Ibrahim Bangura, editor. Youth-Led Social Movements and Peacebuilding in Africa. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2022 Debela Fituma Mamo, Corresponding Author Debela Fituma Mamo [email protected] Addis Ababa UniversitySearch for more papers by this author Debela Fituma Mamo, Corresponding Author Debela Fituma Mamo [email protected] Addis Ababa UniversitySearch for more papers by this author First published: 05 March 2023 https://doi.org/10.1111/pech.12608Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Early ViewOnline Version of Record before inclusion in an issue RelatedInformation

Book Review: Youth-Led Social Movements and Peacebuilding in Africa edited by Ibrahim Bangura

The contributing authors in Ibrahim Bangura's edited volume, Youth-Led Social Movements and Peacebuilding in Africa, highlight young people's struggles to effect social, economic, and political change across the continent, and the tendency of state authorities to suppress youth movements, often violently. In her review of the volume, Deanna Pittman extends Bangura's analysis of African states' "gerontocracy" to observe that feminist scholars have long noted the linkages among age- and gender-based exclusion in political processes and the patriarchy. Pittman reissues Bangura's call to action for the EiE field: give young activists a platform and include them as essential stakeholders and participants in EiE decisionmaking. She concludes by remarking that consciousness-raising and learning happen in and through social movements themselves.

Beyond the Pedagogy: Indigenous Approaches for Peace Practices in Africa

Peace is the requisite for the world order, likewise is the conflict for the development of the world’s space. This indicates the positivism of conflict in the development of human and man’s space. However, the negativity of conflicts in human’s space brought about the ‘Peace Pedagogy’ in educational institutions in the world over. Better still and less well, the results compared in the conflict management and peace building strategies in most if not all countries revealed a rethink and review of the pedagogical peace efforts in Africa. The so far achievements in the field of conflicts resolution and peace building were still not commensurate compared to the numerous conflicts violence ravaging the continent of Africa. Nevertheless, the success of peace pedagogies in some countries of the world should be having noticed, ‘the out-put’ changes the narrative of their society. Africa, the continent blessed with natural and human resources, believed to have been the first civilized continent of the world, evolved in peace practiced on conflict resolution and peace-building strategies that are indigenous and well fixed into the various conflicts bedeviled the people of Sahel and sub-Sahara Africa before the emergence of western strategy of peace pedagogies. In this wise, this paper explored beyond the pedagogy the indigenous approaches for peace practices in Africa using a qualitative method of a desk base research report on indigenous approach of peace-practice strategies in order to strengthen the traditional and indigenous strategies’ peace efforts and peace building in Africa.

Gender, Conflict and Peace-Building in Africa: A Comparative Historical Review of Zulu and Igbo Women in Crisis Management

The male gender has often dominated the quest for societal security. Analysis and studies on security management and peace-building tend to advance the role of the male folk more than their female counterparts. This study traced the role of historic Zulu women in societal security management and compared it to the Aba Women's War that is popularly referred to as the Aba women riot. The study used the African developmental feminism theory to anchor its analysis. It maintained that these women rose at critical times to challenge the forces that planted insecurity in their societies. It found that they engaged in both strategic and reactive peace-building. The study also reveals the similarities and differences in Zulu and Igbo women intervention in conflict and security management. Finally, the researchers recommended considering the widespread nature of insecurity in many remote parts of Africa that have consistently led to the death of women and children. There should be a re-awakening of female security regiments in many African societies, and they should be trained to secure their lives and properties through community policing efforts.

Optimistic Role of China in Peace Building in Africa: A Case Study of Darfur

The developing Sino-African relations are perceived by some foreign affairs academia as a measure of the basis on which its larger strategic drives are fabricated. Chinese interests on the continent not merely focus on economic benefits however also includes governmental, security, and sociopolitical interests. This fast-developing correlation offers opportunities besides challenges to both China and Africa. China’s trade, venture, and infrastructural development support are primarily re-modeling African markets. However, Chinese growth posturing retreat dilemma to international power balance.Particularly, the US perceives the African continent as ravenous for their investments, expertise, and peace, and cordiality.Moreover, argumentative concerns are distressing these relations. Africa remained a fatality of Western colonialism in addition to "strings-attached" methodologies. Hence, carried around using “quasi-state” players, thus, frequently condemned through majority African leadership to interfere with the local affairs within a few African states besides also offering reliant over foreign-aid support. This article endeavors to use the qualitative nature of the study based on secondary sources.Therefore, the descriptive-analytical technique is used to conclude a critical study of Sino-African relations besides conflict management in Africa, making a case study of Sudan. This paper also attempts to examine that how China’s investments on the continent are donating to issues by observing transmission of Chinese weapons towards Sudan underbid of securing petroleum to guard its domestic safeties.

The state of peacebuilding in Africa: lessons learned for policymakers and practitioners

The state of peacebuilding in Africa: lessons learned for policymakers and practitioners

Party Politics, Electoral Violence and Dynamics of Peace Building in Africa

Party Politics, Electoral Violence and Dynamics of Peace Building in Africa

Shifting ideas of sustainable peace towards conversation in state-building

ABSTRACT This article offers reflections on the meaning of peace and peace-building in Africa and proposes a reframing of the state-building problematic. It argues for a shift in analytical lens by providing alternative ways of looking at state-building in order to explore a different approach to peace-building. Thus, the paper re-centres the notion of conversation in the processes of building peace and state. This concept of conversation requires a shifting of the debate from a focus on which institutions, liberal or otherwise, and which policies are most effective for peace, to how inter-elite and society-elite conversation gives rise to, or fails to bring about particular ensembles of institutions and policy outcomes. We analyse the role of political settlement in shaping the nature and outcome of these conversations. We suggest that the pursuit of peace must account for the depth of conversation about the presence, absence or desire for peace as well as accompanying perspectives of state-building across the target society.

TRANSFORMING HIGHER EDUCATION FOR SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND PEACEBUILDING IN AFRICA

Education is unarguably the bedrock of sustainable national development. As a major role player in the socio-economic development of nations, education has the potentials of infusing a culture of peace in the minds of the recipients. Education that fosters positive socio-economic development can help in pre- and post-conflict peacebuilding and of course prevent or solve armed conflicts. Higher education as a very important level of education, however, plays a dominant role in this direction. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have the mandate to build the human capital required to drive socio-economic growth in nations. This mandate is carried out in the form of training, research, and innovation for development. In Africa, tertiary education is still developing in terms of socio-economic development and peacebuilding mindedness. HEIs in Africa are constantly accused of producing graduates that do not match the needs of the industry. These graduates receive less or no training in the area of entrepreneurship, ICT, and peacebuilding, making them completely dependent on governments after graduation which in turn actuates conflict. Poor educational reforms, indiscipline, corruption, poor governance, shortage of resources, and political instability are seen as the major problems. To solve these problems, universities are urged to orchestrate their training towards ensuring access to quality and relevant education that could divorce the minds of the receivers from being job seekers to job creators. African nations should transform higher education by including entrepreneurial, ICT, and peace-building courses in national education curriculums as such could empower youths for socio-economic development and peaceful living. Adopting peace education in all the facets of operations of tertiary institutions in Africa should be encouraged. Therefore, this study presents how transforming higher education can lead to socio-economic development and peacebuilding in Africa.

China and Peace Building in Africa: A Case Study of Sudan

China and Peace Building in Africa: A Case Study of Sudan