Peaceful coexistence

Angola's Sustainable Growth and Regional Role beyond the Elections

Upphovsperson:	Adolfo, Eldridge Vigil
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Conflict, Displacement and Transformation | Uppsala, Sweden
År:	2012
Ämnesord:	Angola, Governance, elections, Economic conditions, Political conditions, Social conditions, Foreign policy, Regional economy, Sustainable development, Regional security, Peaceful coexistence, Political science, Statsvetenskap

Angola’s economic boom averaging about 17 per cent per annum, is centred on its extractive oil industry and has made Angola one of the fastest growing economies in sub-Saharan Africa and the world. With national peace providing stability and a strong military to negotiate regional threats, Angola is expected to consolidate its position as a regional power commensurate with its economic and military might. However, Angola faces challenges in the political, social, economic, governance, security and foreign policy arenas. It will also have to contend with election-related violence. While a bright medium-term future is in prospect for Angola, the country will have to negotiate and overcome these challenges to sustain its long-term peaceful development.

Imagining a peaceful society : a vision of children's literature in a post-conflict Zimbabwe

Upphovsperson:	Chitando, Anna
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2008
Ämnesord:	conflicts, Political crisis, peace, literature, Authors, children, Social change, Dispute settlement, Peaceful coexistence, Post-conflict reconstruction, Zimbabwe, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

Imagining a Peaceful Society: A Vision of Children's Literature in a Post-Conflict Zimbabwe addresses the marginalisation of children's literature from the discourse on conflict and peace building in Africa. By presenting a unique perspective to how writers of children's literature, and children themselves understand, grapple with, and envision peace in a post-conflict Zimbabwean society, this Discussion Paper calls attention to the immense, but largely untapped potential of literature as a critical resource for the promotion peace in Africa.

The security-development nexus : expressions of sovereignty and securitization in Southern Africa

Medarbetare:	Buur, Lars | Jensen, Steffen | Stepputat, Finn
Utgivare:	Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet; HSRC Press
År:	2007
Ämnesord:	violence, Crime, Economic and social development, politics, Government policy, State, International relations, Peaceful coexistence, Citizenship, Human security, Regional security, South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Political science, Statsvetenskap

The link between security and development has been rediscovered after 9/11 by a broad range of scholars. Focusing on Southern Africa, the Security-Development Nexus shows that the much debated linkage is by no means a recent invention. Rather, the security/development linkage has been an important element of the state policies of colonial as well as post-colonial regimes during the Cold War, and it seems to be prospering in new configurations under the present wave of democratic transitions. Contributors focus on a variety of contexts from South Africa, Mozambique and Namibia, to Zimbabwe and Democratic Congo; they explore the nexus and our understanding of security and development through the prism of peace-keeping interventions, community policing, human rights, gender, land contests, squatters, nation and state-building, social movements, DDR programmes and the different trajectories democratization has taken in different parts of the region.

Zangbeto : Navigating Between the Spaces of Oral Art, Communal Security and Conflict Mediation in Badagry, Nigeria

Upphovsperson:	Hunsu, Folashade
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Conflict, Displacement and Transformation | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2011
Ämnesord:	Grass roots groups, Traditional culture, Vigilantes, Human security, Peaceful coexistence, Ethnic groups, Social and cultural anthropology, Yoruba, Nigeria, Badagry, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

This Discussion Paper critically examines Zangbeto, a highly revered society, among the Egun people in the town of Badagry, near the city of Lagos, in south west Nigeria, that have creatively re-invented tradition to serve multiple purposes. It shows how Zangbeto has in the context of economic crisis and challenges linked to urban growth, adapted its roles to include communal policing, conflict mediation, oral art and entertainment, and the maintenance of communal order. In more ways than one, it captures the essence and multiple identities of Zangbeto within Badagry society. The involvement of Zangbeto in local policing or ‘night watching’ provides an alternative or an exception to the dominant representation of vigilantism in Nigeria as disorderly violence, sometimes for political or criminal ends. This paper also demonstrates how Zangbeto, drawing upon local Egun culture and traditional practices is able to maintain security and local order at the community level. It is argued that rather than act in an arbitrary and violent manner, Zangbeto operates through the combination of traditional symbolic actions and oral art in mediating local conflicts and preserving social harmony and local order. An interesting point relates to how Zangbeto co-exists peacefully with formal political and security institutions, and operates without causing tensions within Badagry town, where some inhabitants share different ethnic identities and religious faiths. The study also opens up a humanist perspective to how the aesthetics of Zangbeto’s cultural tropes of oral presentation, rhetoric and representation act as a powerful force for preserving cherished communal norms and values, and facilitating communication in ways that strengthen social cohesion. In this regard this paper demonstrates the wealth of possibilities that exist within Africa’s traditional cultures and oral arts for alternative grassroots based conflict mediation and security.

Beyond Drops Water: Four Imperatives to Cooperation in the Nile Basin : Claude Ake Memorial Lecture 2010

Upphovsperson:	Yacob, Arsano
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2010
Ämnesord:	Nile river, Water resources, Regional cooperation, International relations, Environmental security, Peaceful coexistence, Video recordings, Political science, Statsvetenskap

The Nile basin is one of the oldest places on earth to which renowned civilizations, polities, kingdoms and empires are attributed. The Nile is the world’s longest river whose basin covers some 3.3 million sq. km and shared by ten countries. Whether in the upstream or downstream the countries and communities are permanently bound together, and their millions owe to it the present livelihood and future prosperity. On the contrary, the Nile Basin lacks a cooperative mechanism and perennially stuck in the lingering tension over apportionment of the waters. It is about time now for the Nile basin countries to work towards a viable cooperation beyond drops of water. A mutually acceptable cooperative engagement among the riparian nations is condition-sine-qua-non for enhancing development in each country and achieving the much desired peace and mutual security in the basin. The 2010 Claude Ake Memorial Lecture will, therefore, focus on the economic, environmental, security and institutional imperatives for cooperation and peace building in the Nile Basin. Dr. Yacob Arsano is Associate Professor of Political Science & International Relations at Addis Ababa University.

Perspectives on Côte d'Ivoire : between political breakdown and post-conflict peace

Upphovsperson:	Obi, Cyril
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Conflict, Displacement and Transformation | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2007
Ämnesord:	Civil war, conflicts, political development, Economic conditions, Peaceful coexistence, Peace building, Post-conflict reconstruction, Citizenship, Côte d'Ivoire, Political science, Statsvetenskap

The three articles in this Discussion Paper explore different perspectives to the complex causes of the civil war that broke out in Côte d’Ivoire in September 2002. They are written against the background of the signing of yet another peace agreement between the Ivorian government and the former rebel New Forces (NF) in March 2007. This volume also provides a context where the prospects for post-conflict peace, national reconciliation and democracy in Côte d’Ivoire could be critically analysed.

Reconciling winners and losers in post-conflict elections in West Africa : political and policy imperatives

Upphovspersoner:	Norberg, Carin | Obi, Cyril
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Conflict, Displacement and Transformation | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2007
Ämnesord:	elections, Electoral systems, Voting, political participation, Democratization, Peaceful coexistence, Conference reports, Peace and conflict research, Freds- och konfliktforskning

In post-conflict societies, elections play several roles. They provide citizens with the opportunity to freely chose their leaders and representatives, and provide countries emerging from civil wars with new opportunities to come to terms with a traumatic past and rebuild their lives and societies in a secure and stable environment. For the international community, post-conflict elections lend credibility to peace agreements and provide an exit strategy. However, when elections are poorly timed or administered, and outstanding issues of justice, participation, national ownership and sustainability of the peace process are not well addressed, there is always a chance that the entire process may unravel. This report based on the debates and discussions of a panel debate on Winners and Losers in Post-Conflict Elections in West Africa, draws on insights from post-conflict elections in the sub-region and provides some crucial policy recommendations as well as areas for further research.