Towards Effective Security Governance In Africa

The acceleration of globalization and the rise of China are among the most important events in the 21st century. Globalization is a double-edged sword for human society. There is a strong belief among the international community that global governance is the most effective solution to most of our global problems. In this volume Chinese scholars contribute to the study of global governance by exploring ways to effectively face the tough challenges brought by globalization, such as economic prosperity, environmental issues, and global security.

The security governance of South Africa has faced immense challenges amid post-apartheid constitutional and political transformations. In many cases, policing and governmental organizations have failed to provide security and other services to the poorest inhabitants. Security Governance, Policing, and Local Capacity explores an experiment that took place in Zwelethemba—located in South Africa’s Western Cape Province—to establish legitimate and effective nonstate security governance within poor urban settlements. There has been, and continues to be, much reticence to endorsing private forms of security governance that operate outside of state institutions within local communities. Those initiatives have often led to situations where force is used illegally and punishment is dispensed arbitrarily and brutally. This book explores the extent to which this model of mobilizing local knowledge and capacity was able to effectively achieve justice, democracy, accountability, and development in this region. Whenever possible, the book includes raw data and a thorough analysis of existing information on security governance. Examining this case and its outcome, the authors provide a theoretical analysis of the model used and present a series of design principles for future applications in local security governance. The book concludes that poor communities are a significant source of untapped resources that can, under certain conditions, be mobilized to significantly enhance safety. This volume is an important examination of experimental models and a presentation of new groundbreaking theory on engaging the local community in solving security governance problems.

The need, therefore, for effective governance through border security regimes arises from the intractable challenges of conflict management as a core objective of multilateral institutions and non-governmental agencies in global governance. Thus, governance along the Frontier has come to be "marked by density and complexity". This density and complexity in frontier relations under-score the disciplinary concern for border governance. --Book Jacket.

Do existing measures of state fragility measure fragility accurately? Based on commonly used fragility measures, South Africa (SA) is classified as a relatively stable state, yet rising violent crime, high unemployment, endemic poverty, eroding public trust, identity group based preferential treatment policies, and the rapid rise of the private security sector are all indications that SA may be suffering from latent state fragility. Based on a comprehensive view of security, this study examines the extent to which measures of political legitimacy and good governance, effectiveness in the security system – especially with respect to the police system – and mounting economic challenges may be undermining the stability of SA in ways undetected by commonly used measures of state fragility. Using a mixed-methods approach based on quantitative secondary data analysis and semi-structured interviews with government officials, security practitioners, and leading experts in the field, this study finds that the combination of colonization, apartheid, liberation struggle, transition from autocracy to democracy, high levels of direct and structural violence, stagnating social, political, and economic developments make South Africa a latently fragile state. Conceptually, the results of this research call into question the validity of commonly used measures of state fragility and suggest the need for a more comprehensive approach to assessing state fragility. Practically, this study offers a number of concrete policy recommendations for how South Africa may address mounting levels of latent state fragility.

The book shows that integration is an intergovernmental process that involves the formation and pursuit of preferences, which are pursued through an aggregation of interests and institutions designed to maximize member states’ utility. It also shows how the African Union evolved and keeps evolving in terms of dealing with state sovereignty issues.