Human security: Countering harmful ideologies and dominant narratives

Abstract

Welcome to this edition of the African Security Review. In this issue, our authors offer a bouquet of contributions that highlight the centrality of human security from several perspectives. The real and potential harm of historical religions and ideologies that intentionally seek to harm other people, both physically and mentally, requires counter-narratives that emphasise the vital importance of human rights and other democratic freedoms. The importance of the projection of soft power in the political economy of what remains a liberal world, without importing or exporting regional geopolitical tensions, is such a counter-narrative to the violent nature of hard-power projection. What emerges from the work of our authors is the requirement for civil oversight, professionalism and protection of citizens in the unfortunate cases where the state decides to execute its mandate to wield the sword. In her article, ‘The liberation culture and missed opportunities for security sector reform in Zimbabwe: 1980–2018’, Annie Barbara Chikwanha found that Security Sector Reform (SSR) in Zimbabwe is political party orientated and deliberately focussing on technical capacity building and is not aligned with human rights principles or clearly expressing a human security paradigm. In the same vein, Sallek Yaks Musa and Lindy Heinecken analysed and evaluated the effect of military ‘(un)professionalism’ on civil–military relations and security in Nigeria, departing from the principles of military professionalism. The authors found that the lack of civil control of the Nigerian military compromises internal security, military effectiveness, erodes trust in the armed forces and therefore civil–military relations, contributing to the insecurity of citizens. Emma Etim, Otu Duke, Jacob Fatile and Augustine Ugar Akah in their article ‘Protest policing strategy and human rights: A study of End SARS protests in Nigeria’ demonstrated practicalities of how unprofessional armed forces complicates the management of protest action. The authors found that police response to peaceful gatherings as if all protest actions are riots, and failure to prevent violence at an early stage, leads to the escalation of protests into violence that could have been avoided. In his article, ‘Lies or half-truths? Boko Haram’s ideology from a social movement theory perspective’, Akali Omeni shows that ideological and political interpretation of religious scriptures to rationalise radical activism requires counter-narratives to expose ‘lies and half-truths’. Sammie Wicks and Caleb Weiss wrote on the ‘Evolution of Algerian influence in African Jihadist movements’ and pointed out that Algerian leaders continue to influence al-Qaeda’s senior leadership in jihadism in northern Africa and the Sahel, despite diminishing support for this ideology from a new generation of leaders. Oluwaseun Tella explained in his article ‘The political economy of soft power: South Africa’s neoliberal order and multinational corporations’ attraction in Africa’, that the economic interests of South Africa are still in the forefront of South African foreign policy and explains how South Africa projects soft power within the neo-liberal order of the global political economy, despite criticism on the influx of multinational companies in Africa. From a similar perspective, Christian Bueger and Jan Stockbruegger discuss ‘Maritime security and the Western Indian Ocean’s militarisation dilemma’ and argued the region relies on external military actors to protect vital shipping