Regional security

Transnational Islamist (Jihadist) Movements and Inter-State Conflicts in the Horn of Africa

Upphovsperson:	Salih, M.A. Mohamed
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Conflict, Displacement and Transformation | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2011
Ämnesord:	Political islam, Religious movements, Regional conflicts, Regional security, Horn of Africa, Political science, Statsvetenskap

Somalia has engendered the policy debate on the extent of the spread of transnational Islamist Jihadist groups in the Horn of Africa (HOA) and their consequences for peace and security across the region. These concerns are justified given the emergence since the late 1980s of extremist groups such as the Eritrean Islamic Jihad Movement and the Somali Jihadist Islamist groups of the likes of Al-Ittihad, the Islamic Courts Union and currently Al Shabab. The leaders and fighters of these groups relocated to the HOA after the defeat of the Taliban following the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan. The operations of these transnational Islamist groups within and across the countries of the Horn pose serious challenges to the region and beyond.

The African Union and the challenges of implementing the “responsibility to protect”

Upphovsperson:	Kuwali, Daniel
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2009
Ämnesord:	United Nations, African Union, Regional security, African organizations, Regional cooperation, International relations, Foreign intervention, Dispute settlement, Peacekeeping, Defence policy, Crime prevention, Human rights, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

The concept of the “responsibility to protect” (“R2P”) was endorsed by the world’s leaders sitting at the 2005 World Summit level in the UN General Assembly. The World Summit Outcome Document affirmed that every sovereign government has a responsibility to protect its citizens and those within its jurisdiction from genocide, war crimes, “ethnic cleansing” and crimes against humanity (UN 2005 paras. 138–139). The concept of R2P is cast in the three core pillars: first, an affirmation of the primary and continuing obligation of individual states to protect its population from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity, as well as incitement thereof; second, a commitment by the international community to assist states in meeting these obligations; and third, acceptance by UN member states of their responsibility to respond in a timely and decisive manner through the UN Security Council, if national authorities are manifestly failing to protect their populations from these mass atrocity crimes. R2P is a restatement of positive binding obligations of states to protect their citizens from mass atrocity crimes; and the collective responsibility to the international community to prevent mass atrocity crimes. R2P is about taking effective action at the earliest possible stage (Evans 2008). These obligations are particularly relevant to Africa in the face of crises such as those in Sudan (Darfur), parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Somalia. It is, however, rather early to pass definitive judgement on the relatively young notion of R2P without addressing some of the challenges confronting its implementation in Africa.

Mano river basin area : formal and informal security providers in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone

Upphovspersoner:	Jörgel, Magnus | Utas, Mats
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Conflict, Displacement and Transformation | Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Urban Dynamics | Stockholm : Defence analysis, Swedish defence research agency (FOI)
År:	2007
Ämnesord:	West Africa, Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mano River, ECOWAS, African Union, Security sector reform, Informal sector, Regional security, Peacekeeping, Development strategy, Peace and conflict research, Freds- och konfliktforskning

Common security and civil society in Africa

Medarbetare:	Wohlgemuth, Lennart
Utgivare:	Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	1999
Ämnesord:	Africa, Civil Society, Conflicts, International security, Regional security, Partnership, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

This book is the outcome of a conference on Common Security and Civil Society in Africa, held in 1997, and organised jointly by the Nordic Africa Institute and the Common Security Forum, based at the Centre for History and Economics, King's College and the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies. The idea that security is to be achieved by cooperation more than by confrontation, and that it is an economic and social as well as a military condition, has been a commonplace of international politics for some 20 years. The geometry of common or extended security is complex. But it usually involves an extension of the domain of security, of the sources of security, and of the characteristics of security. Among these diverse kinds of security, it is political security which has come into particular prominence at the end of the 1990s, most strikingly in Africa. Political security, in the sense of legal and political institutions such that individuals feel secure both in their individual rights and in the development of political culture, has come to be seen as the foundation of all other kinds of security. The papers presented in this volume seek to go 'beyond the war of images', to imagine a different and more secure future, and they are concerned with five major themes: economic and social change; the prevention of violent conflict; the causes of conflict; political security; the international politics of development partnership.

Sidor