Understanding Africa's contemporary conflicts: Origins, challenges and peacebuilding

This monograph discusses the changing methodologies used to analyse and map violent conflicts, conflict resolution and peace building approaches

This monograph is a collection of papers that were presented at the African Human Security Initiative conference that was held in Addis Ababa in February 2008. It discusses the changing methodologies used to analyse and map violent conflicts conflict resolution and peace building approaches in Africa by moving away from western focused socio-political lenses that have defined the different policy reactions to conflict in the region. It is thus an attempt to apply a more holistic, multidisciplinary approach to understanding causes of violent conflict and, perhaps more importantly, how to diffuse them in a way that allows for the total disengagement of the military from the political control of the state by positioning the former in a manner that allows them to safeguard the territorial integrity of the states they serve, as this guarantees democratic stability by protecting and defending legitimate democratic institutions. The monograph’s chapters offer distinctive and harmonising approaches to the way in which peace is, and can be, achieved in sub-Saharan Africa.

Edited by: Dr Richard Bowd and Dr Annie Barbara Chikwanha