Pub Date : 2022-01-02DOI: 10.1080/10246029.2022.2041877
Lisa Otto, Dries Velthuizen
As peace and security practitioners and scholars we seldom harness the expectations that a new year will bring a fresh start for people caught up in war, other forms of violent conflict and pressures that cause insecurity and distress. However, we know from past experience that where people feel insecure, a critical mass of people still have the energy to find innovative solutions to improve the well-being of people. Also in Africa, many good people share their knowledge of the many spaces in Africa, in the firm belief that wise leaders and other decision makers would find solutions to problems. In this edition, the authors illustrate in an exceptional way some of the efforts that are already bearing fruit towards security for all who dwell in the continent of Africa. An example of such an effort with innovative solutions is the work of Albert K. DomsonLindsay on ‘Mozambique’s Security Challenges’, who offers a critical security perspective to advance the view of a balanced or broader approach to security that goes beyond military response towards addressing the fundamental causes of a conflict. In this regard the author argues that poor governance, characterised by corruption, political patronage, marginalisation of minority groups, centralisation of power and exclusionary practices, under the banner of the Mozambican government, are the major sources of insecurity in the country. John Ishiyama in his article ‘Ethnic versus National Identity in Ethiopia’ reminds us about another cause of insecurity in Africa when he asserts that for many people in a country such as Ethiopia, ethnic identity is more important than national identity, posing a challenge to national identity. Furthermore, Felix Kumah-Abiwu and Francis Sibanda point out in their article on ‘Global War on Terror’ (GWOT), that some African governments such as Kenya and Uganda, continue to benefit from securitised development characterised by underlying contradictions involving the fight against terrorism. However, it is through the securitisation of COVID-19 in Africa, as illustrated by Hamdy Hassan, that many African governments have exploited this pandemic as a deadly threat to state and society to justify unprecedented precautionary measures restricting the freedoms of people. He predicts that the impact of securitisation of COVID-19 on African societies by interventionist states will have extensive socio-political implications in the medium and long term. In his article on ‘The Securitisation of COVID-19 and Authoritarian Politics in Zimbabwe’, Tompson Makahamadze uses Zimbabwe as an example of COVID-19 securitisation. He found that it assisted the ZANU-PF government to consolidate power through measures to contain the coronavirus disproportionate to the threat and followed political party agenda to limit the political freedoms of the opposition coalition. Timothy Donais offers one of the innovative solutions in his article ‘Protection through Peacebuilding in South Sudan’, explain
{"title":"A call for innovative security strategies in the face of failing governance","authors":"Lisa Otto, Dries Velthuizen","doi":"10.1080/10246029.2022.2041877","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10246029.2022.2041877","url":null,"abstract":"As peace and security practitioners and scholars we seldom harness the expectations that a new year will bring a fresh start for people caught up in war, other forms of violent conflict and pressures that cause insecurity and distress. However, we know from past experience that where people feel insecure, a critical mass of people still have the energy to find innovative solutions to improve the well-being of people. Also in Africa, many good people share their knowledge of the many spaces in Africa, in the firm belief that wise leaders and other decision makers would find solutions to problems. In this edition, the authors illustrate in an exceptional way some of the efforts that are already bearing fruit towards security for all who dwell in the continent of Africa. An example of such an effort with innovative solutions is the work of Albert K. DomsonLindsay on ‘Mozambique’s Security Challenges’, who offers a critical security perspective to advance the view of a balanced or broader approach to security that goes beyond military response towards addressing the fundamental causes of a conflict. In this regard the author argues that poor governance, characterised by corruption, political patronage, marginalisation of minority groups, centralisation of power and exclusionary practices, under the banner of the Mozambican government, are the major sources of insecurity in the country. John Ishiyama in his article ‘Ethnic versus National Identity in Ethiopia’ reminds us about another cause of insecurity in Africa when he asserts that for many people in a country such as Ethiopia, ethnic identity is more important than national identity, posing a challenge to national identity. Furthermore, Felix Kumah-Abiwu and Francis Sibanda point out in their article on ‘Global War on Terror’ (GWOT), that some African governments such as Kenya and Uganda, continue to benefit from securitised development characterised by underlying contradictions involving the fight against terrorism. However, it is through the securitisation of COVID-19 in Africa, as illustrated by Hamdy Hassan, that many African governments have exploited this pandemic as a deadly threat to state and society to justify unprecedented precautionary measures restricting the freedoms of people. He predicts that the impact of securitisation of COVID-19 on African societies by interventionist states will have extensive socio-political implications in the medium and long term. In his article on ‘The Securitisation of COVID-19 and Authoritarian Politics in Zimbabwe’, Tompson Makahamadze uses Zimbabwe as an example of COVID-19 securitisation. He found that it assisted the ZANU-PF government to consolidate power through measures to contain the coronavirus disproportionate to the threat and followed political party agenda to limit the political freedoms of the opposition coalition. Timothy Donais offers one of the innovative solutions in his article ‘Protection through Peacebuilding in South Sudan’, explain","PeriodicalId":44882,"journal":{"name":"African Security Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48649061","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-13DOI: 10.1080/10246029.2021.1992458
Albert K. Domson-Lindsay
ABSTRACT The ongoing security crisis in Mozambique reveals the limitations of the mainstream statist approach to security promotion. Whenever there is social conflict or unrest, state authorities instinctively and routinely rely on military means to deal with it. However, this approach disregards the root causes of the problem, which are often the internal social, political and economic triggers of insecurity. Presently there are international security actors assisting the Mozambican government in dealing with the armed conflict in their country. As a contribution to the emerging body of work on Mozambique’s security challenges beginning in 1990, this paper adopts a critical security perspective in the analysis of the problem. The view is taken that there ought to be a balanced or broader approach to security. Although a military response is necessary for combating hostile forces, this effort should go in tandem with addressing the fundamental causes of the crisis. The paper argues that in Mozambique poor governance in the form of corruption, political patronage, marginalisation of minority groups, centralisation of power and other exclusionary practices are the major sources of the country’s insecurity. Some proposals are suggested to address these challenges.
{"title":"Mozambique’s security challenges: Routinised response or broader approach?","authors":"Albert K. Domson-Lindsay","doi":"10.1080/10246029.2021.1992458","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10246029.2021.1992458","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The ongoing security crisis in Mozambique reveals the limitations of the mainstream statist approach to security promotion. Whenever there is social conflict or unrest, state authorities instinctively and routinely rely on military means to deal with it. However, this approach disregards the root causes of the problem, which are often the internal social, political and economic triggers of insecurity. Presently there are international security actors assisting the Mozambican government in dealing with the armed conflict in their country. As a contribution to the emerging body of work on Mozambique’s security challenges beginning in 1990, this paper adopts a critical security perspective in the analysis of the problem. The view is taken that there ought to be a balanced or broader approach to security. Although a military response is necessary for combating hostile forces, this effort should go in tandem with addressing the fundamental causes of the crisis. The paper argues that in Mozambique poor governance in the form of corruption, political patronage, marginalisation of minority groups, centralisation of power and other exclusionary practices are the major sources of the country’s insecurity. Some proposals are suggested to address these challenges.","PeriodicalId":44882,"journal":{"name":"African Security Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-12-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46565482","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-11-26DOI: 10.1080/10246029.2021.1991407
N. M. Alene
{"title":"Peacebuilding in Contemporary Africa: In Search of Alternative Strategies","authors":"N. M. Alene","doi":"10.1080/10246029.2021.1991407","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10246029.2021.1991407","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44882,"journal":{"name":"African Security Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48399359","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-11-18DOI: 10.1080/10246029.2021.1994438
H. Hassan
ABSTRACT The outbreak of COVID-19 has shifted from an urgent health issue to a major security threat requiring emergency measures that go beyond normal policies. Many African governments have exploited this pandemic as a deadly threat facing both the state and society to justify unprecedented precautionary measures that restrict people’s freedoms. Thus, the aim of this study was to analyse the current trend of the interventionist state and its socio-political implications in the medium and long term. Using a qualitative approach and literature review, this study examined the impact of securitisation of COVID-19 on African societies. The key findings reveal that most of the African responses to the pandemic were cases of non-traditional securitisation issues. Therefore, such findings are relevant for further studies to explore new threats and risks in the context of securitisation.
{"title":"The securitisation of COVID-19 in Africa: Socio-economic and political implications","authors":"H. Hassan","doi":"10.1080/10246029.2021.1994438","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10246029.2021.1994438","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The outbreak of COVID-19 has shifted from an urgent health issue to a major security threat requiring emergency measures that go beyond normal policies. Many African governments have exploited this pandemic as a deadly threat facing both the state and society to justify unprecedented precautionary measures that restrict people’s freedoms. Thus, the aim of this study was to analyse the current trend of the interventionist state and its socio-political implications in the medium and long term. Using a qualitative approach and literature review, this study examined the impact of securitisation of COVID-19 on African societies. The key findings reveal that most of the African responses to the pandemic were cases of non-traditional securitisation issues. Therefore, such findings are relevant for further studies to explore new threats and risks in the context of securitisation.","PeriodicalId":44882,"journal":{"name":"African Security Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43845380","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-22DOI: 10.1080/10246029.2021.1982739
T. Makahamadze, F. Sibanda
ABSTRACT This article examines how the securitisation of COVID-19 helped the ZANU-PF government to consolidate power. It uses data collected from various document sources such as news outlets, social media platforms, and websites. Additionally, the researchers conducted informal interviews with Zimbabweans through social networking platforms. The study found that the measures the government (securitising actor) adopted to contain the coronavirus did not match the degree of the threat and noted glaring discrepancies between what the government said and its actions. In addition, the implementation of the COVID-19 measures indicates that the ruling party sought to achieve other agendas other than protecting the public (referent objects). The administration used extraordinary measures associated with curbing the spread of COVID-19 as a cover to decimate the opposition coalition, Movement for Democratic Change-Alliance (MDC-A), and consolidate power through the politicisation of food, harassment of those who broke the lockdown measures, prevention of anti-government protests, postponement of elections, and constitutional amendments.
{"title":"Gratuitous benefit for the ZANU-PF government? Securitisation of COVID-19 and authoritarian politics in Zimbabwe","authors":"T. Makahamadze, F. Sibanda","doi":"10.1080/10246029.2021.1982739","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10246029.2021.1982739","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article examines how the securitisation of COVID-19 helped the ZANU-PF government to consolidate power. It uses data collected from various document sources such as news outlets, social media platforms, and websites. Additionally, the researchers conducted informal interviews with Zimbabweans through social networking platforms. The study found that the measures the government (securitising actor) adopted to contain the coronavirus did not match the degree of the threat and noted glaring discrepancies between what the government said and its actions. In addition, the implementation of the COVID-19 measures indicates that the ruling party sought to achieve other agendas other than protecting the public (referent objects). The administration used extraordinary measures associated with curbing the spread of COVID-19 as a cover to decimate the opposition coalition, Movement for Democratic Change-Alliance (MDC-A), and consolidate power through the politicisation of food, harassment of those who broke the lockdown measures, prevention of anti-government protests, postponement of elections, and constitutional amendments.","PeriodicalId":44882,"journal":{"name":"African Security Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-10-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43201101","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-07DOI: 10.1080/10246029.2021.1980412
Felix Kumah-Abiwu
ABSTRACT Africa’s security landscape has been experiencing securitised-development practices through counterterrorism activities from donor countries engaged in the ‘Global War on Terror’ (GWOT). While some African governments continue to ‘benefit’ from the securitised-development agenda, critiques argue that there are human rights concerns that are connected to the practice of securitised-development. They have emphasised how some African governments and military actors involved in fighting the GWOT are also faced with human rights issues. To explore these issues, the article examines the securitised-development agenda in Kenya and Uganda and its impact on human rights. The article argues that the securitised-development practice is characterised by underlying contradictions involving the fight against terrorism and the accompanying human rights concerns in these countries.
{"title":"Africa’s security landscape of securitised-development and human rights issues","authors":"Felix Kumah-Abiwu","doi":"10.1080/10246029.2021.1980412","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10246029.2021.1980412","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Africa’s security landscape has been experiencing securitised-development practices through counterterrorism activities from donor countries engaged in the ‘Global War on Terror’ (GWOT). While some African governments continue to ‘benefit’ from the securitised-development agenda, critiques argue that there are human rights concerns that are connected to the practice of securitised-development. They have emphasised how some African governments and military actors involved in fighting the GWOT are also faced with human rights issues. To explore these issues, the article examines the securitised-development agenda in Kenya and Uganda and its impact on human rights. The article argues that the securitised-development practice is characterised by underlying contradictions involving the fight against terrorism and the accompanying human rights concerns in these countries.","PeriodicalId":44882,"journal":{"name":"African Security Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45332014","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-02DOI: 10.1080/10246029.2021.1975788
C. Saba
ABSTRACT This study explores the drivers of security outcome convergence for 51 African countries spanning the period from 2000 to 2018. Phillips and Sul convergence club and system generalised method of moments (SGMM) estimation techniques were applied. The main findings suggest security outcome convergence, and this implies that African countries are characterised by similar factors (economic, developmental, geographic and governance) which in turn determine an idiosyncratic course of their paths for security policies. The study further confirms that African countries in general appear to have gradually chosen at least to some extent similar paths for their security measures. It is asserted that the economic, developmental, geographic and governance policies pursued by African governments – and the ability of these governments to shape their policies – are likely to impact the process of security outcome convergence in Africa.
{"title":"An investigation of security outcome convergence and the dynamics of their influencing factors in Africa","authors":"C. Saba","doi":"10.1080/10246029.2021.1975788","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10246029.2021.1975788","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study explores the drivers of security outcome convergence for 51 African countries spanning the period from 2000 to 2018. Phillips and Sul convergence club and system generalised method of moments (SGMM) estimation techniques were applied. The main findings suggest security outcome convergence, and this implies that African countries are characterised by similar factors (economic, developmental, geographic and governance) which in turn determine an idiosyncratic course of their paths for security policies. The study further confirms that African countries in general appear to have gradually chosen at least to some extent similar paths for their security measures. It is asserted that the economic, developmental, geographic and governance policies pursued by African governments – and the ability of these governments to shape their policies – are likely to impact the process of security outcome convergence in Africa.","PeriodicalId":44882,"journal":{"name":"African Security Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42513555","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-02DOI: 10.1080/10246029.2021.2006903
Dries Velthuizen, Lisa Otto
{"title":"Security the African way: From indigenous conflict resolution to state response","authors":"Dries Velthuizen, Lisa Otto","doi":"10.1080/10246029.2021.2006903","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10246029.2021.2006903","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44882,"journal":{"name":"African Security Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43412600","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-09-09DOI: 10.1080/10246029.2021.1969961
Freedom Chukwudi Onuoha, G. E. Ezirim, P. Onuh
ABSTRACT The emergence of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in November 2019 has nearly brought the world to a halt. Recording her first COVID-19 case on 27 February 2020, the Nigerian government’s default response to the pandemic was to lock down major parts of the country, among other measures. Despite the nationwide lockdown, inter-state travel continued unabated as many travellers bribed their way through the different checkpoints mounted by security agencies. As a result of the prevalence of ‘normed corruption’, the lockdown only created opportunity for brazen extortion by law enforcement officials. Using the institutional corruption theory as our framework of analysis, and coupled with the use of both primary and secondary data generated during the lockdown, the paper noted that entrenched culture of extortionate policing in the ranks of security forces meant that arrest and prosecution of violators of the lockdown became a distant concern. The result is that COVID-19 suspects or carriers travelled from one state to another without being detected. It concludes that Nigeria should leverage lessons learned from policing COVID-19 in framing future responses in containment measures.
{"title":"Extortionate policing and the futility of COVID-19 pandemic nationwide lockdown in Nigeria: Insights from the South East Zone","authors":"Freedom Chukwudi Onuoha, G. E. Ezirim, P. Onuh","doi":"10.1080/10246029.2021.1969961","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10246029.2021.1969961","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The emergence of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in November 2019 has nearly brought the world to a halt. Recording her first COVID-19 case on 27 February 2020, the Nigerian government’s default response to the pandemic was to lock down major parts of the country, among other measures. Despite the nationwide lockdown, inter-state travel continued unabated as many travellers bribed their way through the different checkpoints mounted by security agencies. As a result of the prevalence of ‘normed corruption’, the lockdown only created opportunity for brazen extortion by law enforcement officials. Using the institutional corruption theory as our framework of analysis, and coupled with the use of both primary and secondary data generated during the lockdown, the paper noted that entrenched culture of extortionate policing in the ranks of security forces meant that arrest and prosecution of violators of the lockdown became a distant concern. The result is that COVID-19 suspects or carriers travelled from one state to another without being detected. It concludes that Nigeria should leverage lessons learned from policing COVID-19 in framing future responses in containment measures.","PeriodicalId":44882,"journal":{"name":"African Security Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47942717","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-08-26DOI: 10.1080/10246029.2021.1968916
Timothy Donais, Ayiko Solomon
ABSTRACT Protecting civilians has been the primary raison d’être of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) since civil war erupted in late 2013. Since then, UN efforts to protect vulnerable civilians have focused on a handful of so-called protection of civilians (PoC) sites. While they have unquestionably saved lives, the PoC sites have also absorbed the lion’s share of mission resources, severely limiting UNMISS’ ability to protect civilians elsewhere. The signing of the still-fragile Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) has enabled a reconsideration of the UNMISS protection mandate in light of what remains an uncertain transition. Given the systemic constraints on the UN’s ability to project force in the name of PoC, we argue that UNMISS’ most constructive and lasting contribution to both protection and peace in South Sudan will be through sustained investments in inclusive local-level peacebuilding. Re-orienting the PoC mandate along these lines offers an opportunity to at least partially counteract the decidedly exclusive nature of the country’s current peace process, and to support bottom-up conflict resolution processes that could eventually interact in constructive ways with top-down dynamics.
{"title":"Protection through peacebuilding in South Sudan","authors":"Timothy Donais, Ayiko Solomon","doi":"10.1080/10246029.2021.1968916","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10246029.2021.1968916","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Protecting civilians has been the primary raison d’être of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) since civil war erupted in late 2013. Since then, UN efforts to protect vulnerable civilians have focused on a handful of so-called protection of civilians (PoC) sites. While they have unquestionably saved lives, the PoC sites have also absorbed the lion’s share of mission resources, severely limiting UNMISS’ ability to protect civilians elsewhere. The signing of the still-fragile Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) has enabled a reconsideration of the UNMISS protection mandate in light of what remains an uncertain transition. Given the systemic constraints on the UN’s ability to project force in the name of PoC, we argue that UNMISS’ most constructive and lasting contribution to both protection and peace in South Sudan will be through sustained investments in inclusive local-level peacebuilding. Re-orienting the PoC mandate along these lines offers an opportunity to at least partially counteract the decidedly exclusive nature of the country’s current peace process, and to support bottom-up conflict resolution processes that could eventually interact in constructive ways with top-down dynamics.","PeriodicalId":44882,"journal":{"name":"African Security Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44877785","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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