New Security Threats and Crises in Africa : Regional and International Perspectives

This book is a multidisciplinary approach to Africa's international relations in an era of globalization and the shifting of power from the West. It moves beyond colonization, marginalization, imperialism to look at the forces and dynamics that are reshaping Africa's external relations today. Front Matter....Pages i-xx Introduction: Evolving Security Discourse and Crises in Africa: Conceptual, Policy, and Practical Relevance....Pages 1-15 Front Matter....Pages 17-17 The African Union and Security in Africa....Pages 19-38 Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons: From Humanitarian to Security Paradigm....Pages 39-57 Africa’s Responses to International Terrorism and the War against It....Pages 59-85 Climate Change and the Risk of Conflict in Africa....Pages 87-109 Securing Africa’s Food Security: Current Constraints and Future Options....Pages 111-127 Confronting Africa’s Health Challenges....Pages 129-146 Front Matter....Pages 147-147 Darfur and the International Community: Self-determination, State building, and “The Responsibility to Protect”....Pages 149-170 The International Community and Congo’s Recent Crises....Pages 171-190 International Organizations and Civil Wars in Africa: The Liberian Case....Pages 191-212 International Actors and Côte d’lvoire’s Political and Economic Crises....Pages 213-246 A Crisis with an Origin: Proposing a Framework for Local and International Engagement in Zimbabwe....Pages 247-272 Back Matter....Pages 273-276 Since the end of the Cold War, the concept of national security has been widened to include a range of non-military threats to the security of the state. This book explores the underlying tensions between a state-centric concept of security, and the concept of human security with respect to a number of new security threats emanating from situations of forced displacement of populations, terrorism, diseases, food insecurity, and the impacts of climate change, all of which are prevalent in Africa and give a particular resonance to the evolving security discourse. The volume undertakes a thorough interdisciplinary investigation of the tensions between state security and human security in the search for solutions to African crises by the international community and regional actors