The African Union as a security actor: African solutions to African problems?

This paper focuses on the problem-solving capacity of the African Union (AU) and its predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). It forms a companion paper to WP56.2 which looks specifically at the ability of African sub-regional organisations to play their part in dealing with Africa's conflicts and security issues. Both papers examine the hypothesis that a regional hegemon, and a measure of shared values and norms, are necessary requirements for an effective regional security organisation. The paper commences with a brief account of the concept of hegemony, followed by an analysis of the empirical question as to whether there are any potential hegemons in Africa. The author goes on to analyse the OAU's record in dealing with conflict and traces the genesis of the AU, its ambitions, organisational structure and actual accomplishments in the realm of peace and security

Somalia: From Stateless Order to Talibanisation?

The withdrawal of the Ethiopian troops by the end of January 2009 puts an end to foreign intervention in Somalia. Following the withdrawal of the Ethiopian troops from Somalia in January 2009, only a small number of African peacekeepers will be staying in the country waiting for the reinforcement of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) that will probably never take place. Nevertheless, this worrying situation could in fact be a blessing in disguise given the poor record of foreign interventions. This ARI describes the interventions and analyses the reasons why foreign interventions have worsened the internal conflicts by bringing Somalia close to Talibanisation instead of bringing order to the State

Asian ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction: The impact of missile defense

The paper analyses critically the threat perceptions of the West, and especially the United States, regarding ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction in the hands of Asian states. Reviewing Southwest, South and Northeast Asia it finds these regions to be more stable as commonly assumed and little evidence to support the assumption that the states in these regions are undeterrable. A deployment by the United States of ballistic missile defences is thus found to be both superfluous and possibly destabilising. However, a mobile boost-phase defence is found to be less potentially destabilising than other missile defence “architectures”

The pros and cons of subsidiarity: The role of African regional and subregional organisations in ensuring peace and security in Africa

The paper critically analyses the emerging international norm of subsidiarity according to which “Africa are responsible for African conflicts”, which is found to be a possible justification for “buck-passing” on the part of the West, leaving the continent with the fewest military means to deal with the largest number of the most destructive armed conflicts. The paper then provides an overview of the various regional and subregional organisations in Africa, including the African Union (AU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) as well as a host of less important organisations. It concludes with a survey of the various forms of support promised to these organisations by the West