From Chaos To Cohesion A Regional Approach To Security Stability And Development In Sub Saharan Africa Enlarged Edition

Prevention is the key to effective policies in Africa, whether the issue is equitable resource exploitation, ethnic conflict, infectious diseases, or famine. African Regional Economic Communities (RECs) have moved beyond their initial purpose of a loose confederation of trading partners to become increasingly effective supranational bodies promoting financial, political, and security stabilization in each of their regions. Looking at each of the RECs, their power centers, and areas of weakness, policymakers can gain a more comprehensive understanding of the sometimes symbiotic and often destructive dynamics within and among African states to seek more effective strategic and regional, not national, approaches. This monograph suggests USAFRICOM is uniquely positioned to help design a path to spearhead a pan-African strategy highly likely to have the net long-term effect of attaining considerable competitive advantage for the U.S. economically, militarily, and politically, with a corresponding increase in stability, security, and economic opportunity for the entire continent.

Prevention is the key to effective policies in Africa, whether the issue is equitable resource exploitation, ethnic conflict, infectious diseases, or famine. African Regional Economic Communities (RECs) have moved beyond their initial purpose of a loose confederation of trading partners to become increasingly effective supranational bodies promoting financial, political, and security stabilization in each of their regions. Looking at each of the RECs, their power centers, and areas of weakness, policymakers can gain a more comprehensive understanding of the sometimes symbiotic and often destructive dynamics within and among African states to seek more effective strategic and regional, not national, approaches. This monograph suggests USAFRICOM is uniquely positioned to help design a path to spearhead a pan-African strategy highly likely to have the net long-term effect of attaining considerable competitive advantage for the U.S. economically, militarily, and politically...

The security and stability of Africa has recently become an important national issue readily seen in the increased time, effort, and resources now devoted to the continent by such new organizations as the U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM). This paper seeks to overcome centuries of ignorance and misunderstanding about the conditions and people of Africa by discussing the fundamental issues of economic development and political governance through which enduring stability and security might be obtained. This paper offers solutions in terms of improving African stability and security and a framework of several key issues which should give policymakers the knowledge they need to work in a constantly changing and very challenging environment.--

Economic activities are the most central of all human endeavors. Although rich in human and geographic diversity, Africa has fallen behind the rest of the world in its economic development, adversely impacting African aspirations. This paper explains why economic development and good governance need to be the basis of security and stability in Africa, and why both should be a main focus for U. S. military engagement on the continent. Written as a primer for military and government staff members who may be unfamiliar with Africa but are assigned duties that involve participation in African affairs, this paper explains the historic and modern importance of Africa to American national interests. It then lays a foundation as to how and why the U.S. government, and especially the military, might become involved in improving African economic development and political governance in order to attain security and stability. To better understand the circumstances in Africa, this paper describes and analyzes its economic and political conditions in terms of economic, social, and demographic measures revealing why, as a region, Africa lags the world in economic and human development. The reasons for slow development are examined through Africa's main economic activities, which give insight to its current conditions and ways to improve economic development and governance. With these insights provided as background, the paper then reviews current U.S. military engagement with African nations and its effectiveness. It then argues that military-led nation assistance and peace building operations are not as good an option for improved African development as the more appropriate approach of military-support to an interagency-led operation under a better resourced U.S. Agency for International Development, which would more effectively assist Africa with achieving stability and security.

For some years the nexus of development and security has been a key conceptual and also political issue. The associated debates are wide-ranging, extending from the basic question of the relationship between development and security to the concrete interaction of military and civil actors in a given post-conflict situation. The edited volume seeks to contribute to this debate by considering various dimensions of the subject. The volume compromises contributions from the following authors: Jakkie Cilliers, Mark Duffield, Ann M. Fitz-Gerald, Stephan Klingebiel, Clive Robinson, Necla Tschirgi.

This book develops the idea that since decolonisation, regional patterns of security have become more prominent in international politics. The authors combine an operational theory of regional security with an empirical application across the whole of the international system. Individual chapters cover Africa, the Balkans, CIS Europe, East Asia, EU Europe, the Middle East, North America, South America, and South Asia. The main focus is on the post-Cold War period, but the history of each regional security complex is traced back to its beginnings. By relating the regional dynamics of security to current debates about the global power structure, the authors unfold a distinctive interpretation of post-Cold War international security, avoiding both the extreme oversimplifications of the unipolar view, and the extreme deterritorialisations of many globalist visions of a new world disorder. Their framework brings out the radical diversity of security dynamics in different parts of the world.

Relationships between social policy and human development are the subject of much research and theorizing. The literature in this area, however, examines these issues strictly within national contexts. What influence will international agendas such as NAFTA, the World Summit for Social Development, and Habitat II have? Transnational Social Policies specifically addresses the worldwide trend for national policies on human and social development to be increasingly influenced by agendas that are international, or "transnational," in nature. In doing so, the book examines the underlying international developmental, ethical, economic, and political issues shaping national policies in health, education, and employment in the developing world. This book's focus on the "transnational" character of the social policy debate makes it a truly unique and original contribution to the literature. It will appeal to the academic community, worldwide, in international development, public policy and administration, and social work; policymakers, researchers, and practitioners in the field of public (social) policy; and the international community of individuals and organizations working in international social development.