Africa Center for Strategic Studies

• West Africa: Governance and Security in a Changing Region

  By Abdel Fatau Musah. International Peace Institute, 2009. Militant and terrorist groups are a prime source of insecurity in West Africa, but the management of natural resources, market for illicit goods, border administration, and other factors drive and shape the sub-region’s threats. To more effectively confront them, governments and civil society within the ECOWAS sub-regional bloc must collaborate to ensure both national ownership and the strengthening of collective security. [PDF]

• Africa’s Irregular Security Threats: Challenges for U.S. Engagement

  By Andre Le Sage. Institute for National Strategic Studies, 2010. African states face a wide array of unconventional threats that generally are transnational and interconnected. The many domestic militant groups, international criminal enterprises, and democratic governance and institutional deficits common across the continent require multi-dimensional strategies bounded by the rule of law, vigorously implemented by African leaders, and continually supported by international partners. [PDF]

• Security and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa - Looking to the Future

  Security and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa - Looking to the Future.By Moeletsi Mbeki.  Speech delivered at Commander's Speaker Program at the U.S. Africa Command, January 2010.

  Africa’s intra-state conflicts and their cross-border consequences continue to hobble development of social anchors that are critical to state stability. These social and development hurdles are hindering Africa's ability to establish secure, democratic, and economically prosperous states. At bottom, "the challenge facing Sub-Saharan Africa is not State building as many analysts believe. The immediate challenge most of Africa faces is society building." more

• U.S. Security Engagement in Africa

  By William M. Bellamy.  Security Brief.  Africa Center for Strategic Studies, June 2009. A significant development in Africa over the past decade has been the generalized lessening of violent conflict. Revitalized, expanded international peacekeeping, bolstered by a newly launched African Union (AU) determination to tackle security challenges, has reinforced this trend.  But, much more cohesive interagency coordination under strong White House direction is required if the United States is to contribute to Africa’s sustained stability given the region’s persistent conditions of poverty, inequality, and weak governance. [PDF] English; [PDF] French; [PDF] Portuguese For additional reading go to: Africa Security Challenges

• Africa: Confronting Complex Threats

  Africa: Confronting Complex Threats. By Kwesi Aning. International Peace Institute, 2007. Africa’s security challenges are increasingly defined by fragmentation of political authority, mounting political influence of armed sub-state actors, and increased vigilantism. The reliance of non-state combatants on external sources of funding and logistical support, meanwhile, underscores that peace and security on the continent is closely linked to the cooperation of contiguous countries.  [PDF] For additional reading go to: Africa Security Challenges

• Conflict Trends in Africa, 1946-2004

  Conflict Trends in Africa, 1946-2004. By Monty Marshall. Center for Systemic Peace; Africa Conflict Prevention Pool, 2005. Evidenced-based analysis of Africa's conflict trends over the past 60 years. Captures overall decline and shifts in types of conflict facing Africa over this time. Highlights the challenges of state formation instability and the politics of ethnic exclusion. [PDF]

Other Reads

• Crime and Instability: Case Studies of Transnational Threats

  UN Office on Drugs and Crime, 2010. Organized crime and attendant illicit trafficking has undermined the rule of law in various regions around Africa and become both cause and symptom of instability and conflict. Efforts to confront these challenges are too often merely national or bilateral in scope, against which the transnational complexity and sophistication of criminal networks has proven very resilient. [PDF]

• Irregular Warfare: Brazil's Fight Against Criminal Urban Guerrillas

  By Gen. (ret.) Alvaro de Souza Pinheiro.  Joint Special Operations University, 2009. Brazilian urban criminal groups are large and highly organized with sophisticated command-and-control.  In several neglected urban slums they now overshadow the state's presence and assume de facto authority over both legal and illegal activities.  Brazil’s experiences offer useful lessons as urbanization, crime, and illicit trafficking increasingly shape Africa’s security threats. [PDF]

• Organized Crime in South Africa

  By STRATFOR, 2008. An in-depth analysis of the history, structure, and geography of organized crime in South Africa. While cognizant of the tremendous strides the South African government has made from the apartheid days when organized crime formed a key role in many industries, the article emphasizes the continued attraction of South Africa as an attractive destination for organized crime.  [HTML]

• West Africa Under Attack: Drugs, Organized Crime and Terrorism as the New Threats to Global Security

  West Africa Under Attack: Drugs, Organized Crime and Terrorism as the New Threats to Global Security. By Amado Philip de Andrés. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2008. The author provides an overview on the current situation in West Africa with regard to drug trafficking, organized crime (human trafficking, diamond trade and its link with terrorism financing) and terrorism. Discusses the symptoms and effects of drugs, organized crime, and terrorism in West Africa with emphasis porous borders. The article uses statistics to illustrate threats to security in West Africa and beyond.  [PDF]

• Are there Emerging West African Criminal Networks?

  The Case of Ghana. By Kwesi Aning. Global Crime, 2007. Original, thought-provoking research by the director of the Kofi Annan Peacekeeping Training Centre in Accra. The author takes an in-depth look at three types of organized crime: computer crime, drug trafficking, and weapons trafficking and presents the initial results of an empirically based KAIPTC study on these three areas in Ghana. It concludes with an engaging, well-written conclusion about how such activities potentially undermine public institutions like the police, customs, and judiciary in Ghana. Finally, it places these types of organized crime in the context of the cultural norms of a Ghanaian society that for the most part has accepted these activities due to the social welfare roles played by those involved in such crimes.  [HTML]

• 'Shadow Networks' and Conflict Resolution in the Great Lakes Region of Africa

  'Shadow Networks' and Conflict Resolution in the Great Lakes Region of Africa. By Laurence Juma. African Security Review, 2007. This paper explores the limitations of international legal regimes in combatting illicit trade networks and suggests some improvements aimed at increasing their effectiveness at reducing conflict in the region. Focuses on the case of the 'conflict network' phenomenon in the Congo War.  [HTML]

• Pastoralists at war: Violence and Security in the Kenya-Sudan-Uganda Border Region.

  By Jonah Leff. International Journal of Conflict and Violence, 2009. Low-level tensions between pastoralist groups in East Africa’s border regions frequently erupt into deadly confrontations. Government responses have relied too heavily on coercive disarmament campaigns, generating mistrust and prompting violent reprisals. Instead, efforts by civil society groups and inter-governmental efforts to build alternative dispute mechanisms should be replicated.  [PDF]

• Peace and Power Sharing in Africa: A Not So Obvious Relationship

  Peace and Power Sharing in Africa: A Not So Obvious Relationship. By Andreas Mehler. African Affairs, 2009. Crises in Africa are often resolved through power-sharing arrangements. In Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, and Liberia, however, such agreements were weak as they tended to address only elite concerns and neglected other relevant complexities. A “bottom up” approach featuring publicly debated and transitional power-sharing arrangements provide more beneficial and sustainable solutions.[PDF]

• ‘Negotiating with Ghosts’: Religion, Conflict and Peace in Northern Uganda

  ‘Negotiating with Ghosts’: Religion, Conflict and Peace in Northern Uganda. By Paul Jackson. The Round Table, 2009. This article outlines the current situation with regard to the Lord’s Resistance Army, the possibilities for peace in Northern Uganda, and the role of traditional justice systems and the ICC in ending the war. It concludes that justice in Northern Uganda requires an end to the false dichotomy of ‘traditional’ and ICC approaches and that the two must complement each other in order to address the different groups within the LRA and the Acholi population. [HTML]

• African Solutions to an International Problem: Arms Control and Disarmament in Africa

  African Solutions to an International Problem: Arms Control and Disarmament in Africa. By Guy Lamb and Dominique Dye. Journal of International Affairs, 2009. The article argues that small arms and light weapons (SALW) are the primary instruments of war in Africa today making the control of SALW trafficking a key component to African security.

• ‘Negotiating with Ghosts’: Religion, Conflict and Peace in Northern Uganda

  ‘Negotiating with Ghosts’: Religion, Conflict and Peace in Northern Uganda. By Paul Jackson. The Round Table, 2009. This article outlines the current situation with regard to the Lord’s Resistance Army, the possibilities for peace in Northern Uganda, and the role of traditional justice systems and the ICC in ending the war. It concludes that justice in Northern Uganda requires an end to the false dichotomy of ‘traditional’ and ICC approaches and that the two must complement each other in order to address the different groups within the LRA and the Acholi population.  [HTML]

• Burundi’s Transition: Training Leaders for Peace

  Burundi’s Transition: Training Leaders for Peace. By Howard Wolpe and Steve McDonald. Journal of Democracy, 2006. An account of the Burundi Leadership Training Program that the Woodrow Wilson Center has led since late 2002. The piece focuses on explaining the relative merits of the so-called Ngozi process, whereby representatives from various groups in conflict are brought together to engage in cooperation-building interactive exercises. Their experience may offer useful lessons for others engaged in conflict mitigation work.  [PDF]

• Small Arms and Light Weapons Among Pastoral Groups in the Kenya-Uganda Border Area.

  Small Arms and Light Weapons Among Pastoral Groups in the Kenya-Uganda Border Area. By Kennedy Agade Mkutu. African Affairs, 2006. Results of the author's research into SALWs among pastoral groups in the Kenya-Uganda border area, and the long history of their 'spiral of violence'.  [HTML]

Other Reads

• The Invisible Tide: Towards an International Strategy to Deal with Drug Trafficking Through West Africa

  By James Cockayne and Phil Williams.  International Peace Institute, 2009. Narcotics trafficking in West Africa threatens to destabilize the sub-region by corrupting its courts, barracks and other public offices.  The international community can help West Africa through the UN Peacebuilding Commission and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Meanwhile, ECOWAS should establish a Forum on West African Drug Trafficking to facilitate information-sharing and intra-regional coordination. [PDF]

• Drug Trafficking in West Africa

  Drug Trafficking in West Africa. By William Wechsler. 2009. Drug trafficking payouts threaten the integrity of West Africa’s military, judicial, and political institutions. While regional security efforts to interdict traffickers and their high-value bribes currently lack needed hardware and assistance, strengthening basic government, law enforcement and military institutions in West Africa is the essential first step to ensure narcotics interdiction can be sustained in the long-run. [HTML]

• West Africa's International Drug Trade

  West Africa's International Drug Trade. By Stephen Ellis. African Affairs, 2009. Recent large-scale hauls of Europe-bound cocaine in West Africa have prompted calls for enhanced counternarcotics efforts to stem a rising tide of destabilization. Yet sophisticated, resilient and effective West African organized crime syndicates have trafficked drugs globally for decades. Counternarcotics strategies face an entrenched threat to security rather than a new phenomenon.  [HTML]

• Guinea-Bissau: Beyond Rule of the Gun

  Guinea-Bissau: Beyond Rule of the Gun. By International Crisis Group. 2009. The report outlines the dire, drug-fueled political, economic, and humanitarian situation in the country and concludes with policy recommendations for Bissauian political elites, the military, and other stakeholders. [HTML]

• Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Risks in Botswana

  By Jackson Madzima. Institute for Security Studies, March 2009.  Most countries in Southern Africa lack comprehensive legal frameworks that criminalize terrorism and the methods to finance it. However, as numerous local arrests of international terrorists suggest, the sub-region is attracting terrorist networks. To prevent such activity, states should institute legal reforms and better coordinate anti-money laundering efforts through available international and sub-regional working groups.  [PDF]

• Islamists in Politics: The Dynamics of Participation

  By Marina Ottaway and Amr Hamzawy Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2008. Several Islamic political parties in North Africa are rising political forces and appear committed to the democratic process. On-going intra-party ideological debates about many principles of democratic societies pit hard-line and reformist elements against one another. This internal struggle is often swayed by the degree of political participation afforded to Islamic parties. [PDF]

• African Counterterrorism Cooperation: Assessing Regional and Sub-regional Initiatives.

  African Counterterrorism Cooperation: Assessing Regional and Sub-regional Initiatives. Edited by Andre Le Sage, Potomac Books, 2007. As transnational terrorism expands in several regions of Africa, it has yielded distinctive threats and vulnerabilities, demanding tailored responses. This compendium of works analyzing terrorism in Africa and efforts to confront it provides valuable insights to evolving counterterrorism policies. Link to Publisher

• The African Jihad: Bin Laden's Quest for the Horn of Africa.

  The African Jihad: Bin Laden's Quest for the Horn of Africa. Book review by Robert I. Rotberg. African Affairs, 2009. The penetration and persistence of extremist ideology in the Horn of Africa remains unclear and moving along many trajectories. Multiple groups from Sudan to Zanzibar have created divergent forces of ideological influence, perhaps complicating efforts by al Qaeda to establish a unified base of support across the region. PDF

• Guide to the Drivers of Violent Extremism

  Guide to the Drivers of Violent Extremism. USAID Highly commended report that links social, economic, political and cultural factors to extremist ideology and support for terrorism. Develops extremist profiles and "at-risk" populations as well as explores individual motivations.

• The African Union Role in the Global Counterterrorism Campaign

  The African Union Role in the Global Counterterrorism Campaign. By Ibrahim Wani. Potomac Books, 2007. African Counterterrorism Cooperation provides an overview of terrorist threats and responses in each region of the continent. With contributions from leading African security scholars, this volume is a insightful compendium of knowledge on terrorism in Africa that reflects a balance of African and American perspectives on what can and should be done to address this emerging threat. [Link to Publisher]

• Progress and Retreat in Africa: Legislatures on the Rise?

  By Joel Barkan.  Journal of Democracy, 2008. Legislatures in Africa are becoming more assertive and securing a more equal distribution of political and decision-making power within the continent's young multi-party democracies.  Notable improvements have been achieved in Kenya and Ghana and reveal 10 parameters that determine the balance of authority between branches of government. [PDF]

• The Implementation of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance

  By Ibrahima Kane. African Security Review, December 2008.  The African Union adopted the landmark African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance in 2007. While implementation still lags behind the principles outlined for holding elections, building state institutions, creating a democratic culture, and preventing unconstitutional changes of government, the Charter establishes an important normative and institutional framework for Africa’s still nascent democratic systems. [PDF]

• Benin’s Ongoing Struggle for Democracy

    Ongoing Struggle for Democracy. By Mathurin Houngnikpo. West Africa Review, 2007 Genuine democratization requires far more than a series of free and fair elections but also the establishment of many institutions and procedures such as independent and effective legislative, judicial, and investigative bodies within a state. Benin’s major democratic institutions are improving their effectiveness, but recent maneuvers demonstrate how “spoils politics” can disrupt positive democratic trends.   HTML

• Why Democracy is Central to Prosperity and Peace

  Why Democracy is Central to Prosperity and Peace. By Joseph Siegle. Konrad Adenauer Foundation, 2006. Good summary of the rationale for why democracies of all income levels tend to realize superior economic growth, development, and security. [PDF]

• Reviewing democracy and human security in Africa

  Reviewing democracy and human security in Africa. By Anne Hammerstad. Institute for Security Studies, 2004. A well-researched, well-written book about critical aspects of democratic reforms like the mechanics of voter registration systems, the distinction between inclusive and exclusive political systems, the peer-review initiatives of NEPAD, and the complex dynamics of term limit laws. [PDF]

• Democracy and Security in Africa: Towards a Framework of Understanding

  Democracy and Security in Africa: Towards a Framework of Understanding. By Sola Akinrinade. Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 1999. Good piece that thougtfully links, democracy, security, and development in Africa.

• Colloquium on African Elections: Best Practices and Cross-Sectoral Collaboration

  Colloquium on African Elections: Best Practices and Cross-Sectoral Collaboration The National Democratic Institute, 2010. Elections are complex multi-stage cycles that require close coordination among many partners. The security services play a vital role in such collaborative efforts by performing pre-election threat assessments and response plans, actively participating in electoral coordinating bodies, and providing a safe and secure environment that supports the process in an impartial manner. [PDF]

• Security System Reform in Sierra Leone and the Role of the Office of National Security

  Security System Reform in Sierra Leone and the Role of the Office of National Security
  By Brigadier General (ret.) Kellie Hassan Conteh. The Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform, 2008.

  Sierra Leone’s security sector has been significantly transformed since the country emerged from civil war. Intelligence offices were reformed, a National Security Council created, inter-agency coordination improved, and the security sector is generally less politicized. This transformation process helped lay the groundwork for Sierra Leone’s post-conflict return to free, fair, and safe democratic elections. [PDF]

• Security System Reform in Sierra Leone and the Role of the Office of National Security

  Security System Reform in Sierra Leone and the Role of the Office of National Security. By Brigadier General (Ret) Kellie Hassan Conteh. The Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform, 2008 [PDF] Sierra Leone’s security sector has been significantly transformed since the country emerged from civil war. Intelligence offices were reformed, a National Security Council created, inter-agency coordination improved, and security is generally less politicized. Among many government institutional reforms, this transformation process helped lay the groundwork for free, fair and safe democratic elections in 2007.

• Focus on Elections and Security

  Focus on Elections and Security. By ACE Encyclopaedia. http://aceproject.org/ace-en/focus/elections-and-security Equitable and dependable security is essential to maintain an electorate’s confidence and commitment to democratic contests, which sometimes heighten tensions. Advanced planning, training, and extensive coordination are just as critical to free, fair, and safe elections as appropriate deployments of security personnel.

• ‘Joint Forces Quarterly’ Features Africa Center Security Brief: ‘Misinterpreting Ethnic Conflicts in Africa’

  Joint Forces Quarterly, a publication of National Defense University Press, has reprinted Father Clement Mweyang Aapengnuo’s article entitled “Misinterpreting Ethnic Conflicts in Africa,” which was originally published as Africa Center for Strategic Studies’ Africa Security Brief No. 4. [PDF]

• Misinterpreting Ethnic Conflicts in Africa

  The Africa Center for Strategic Studies continues to add to its expanding series of Africa Security Briefs. In the latest Brief, “Misinterpreting Ethnic Conflicts in Africa” , Father Clement Mweyang Aapengnuo, a former Director of the Center for Conflict Transformation and Peace Studies in Ghana and a doctoral student in the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, writes that ethnic conflicts in Africa are often portrayed as having ages-old origins with little prospects for resolution. His article challenges that notion arguing that a re-diagnosis of the underlying drivers to ethnic violence can lead to more effective and sustainable responses. Dr. Joseph Siegle , Africa Center Director of Research, said, “Father Aapengnuo’s article is a valuable addition to the body of literature that advances the pressing need to redirect our conflict mitigation efforts to the political triggers of conflict.” The Africa Center’s Africa Center Briefs are concise analyses and actionable recommendations of critical security challenges facing Africa.

• Ethnocentrism and Communal Conflict in Africa

  Ethnocentrism and Communal Conflict in Africa. York Shaw-Taylor, Racism Review, 2009. Civil wars and communal conflict in Africa are often attributed to the strength and prevalence of ethnic identity over national or civic identity and its attendant affect on political and social allegiances. Yet a review of recent survey data in several African countries is unable to validate this popular proposition. [HTML]

• Title: Deciphering Disorder in Africa: Is Identity the Key?

  Title: Deciphering Disorder in Africa: Is Identity the Key? Crawford Young. World Politics, 2002 Noted Africa-watcher Crawford Young reviews five books that examine the role of identity in recent conflicts in Liberia, Rwanda, Algeria, and elsewhere. While competing identities certainly can influence conflict, they are just one factor among many that cause and perpetuate them. [PDF]

• Ethnicity, Insurgency and Civil Wars

  Ethnicity, Insurgency and Civil Wars. By James Fearon and David Laitin. APSR, 2003. The authors counter the influential claim that civil wars have proliferated after the end of the Cold War by presenting data suggesting civil wars since the 1990s have their roots in conflicts from the 1950s and 1960s.

• African Militaries and Rebellion: The Political Economy of Threat and Combat Effectiveness

  By: Jeffrey Herbst. Journal of Peace Research, 2004. [PDF] Few African armies have shown an aptitude for counter-insurgency strategies. Instead, respones to rebellions are delayed, rely on blunt military strikes and exclude vital political strategies to complement security operations. Competent police forces and domestic intelligence agencies rather than expansion of the military will better enhance counter-insurgency capabilities in Africa's democracies.

• Are Africa's Wars Part of a Fourth Generation of Warfare?

  Are Africa's Wars Part of a Fourth Generation of Warfare? By Paul Jackson. Contemporary Security Policy, 2007. Fourth Generation Warfare (4GW) – models of asymmetric warfare that emphasize culture, politics, economics, non-state actors, and targeting of civilians – has a growing applicability for understanding Africa’s complex conflicts. In particular, 4GW frameworks underscore the need for comprehensive, as opposed to purely military, solutions to conflict on the continent.  PDF

• Why Uganda Has Failed to Defeat the Lord’s Resistance Army

  Why Uganda Has Failed to Defeat the Lord’s Resistance Army. By Robert L. Feldman. Defense and Security Analysis, 2008. A devastating insurgency against the Ugandan government and people is now well into its third decade. How has the battle between the relatively small and under-equipped Lord's Resistance Army and the Ugandan People's Defense Forces continued so long? Several causes for this surprising persistence may lie in the very structures and strategies of the LRA and UPDF as well as the irregular tactics used by both groups. PDF

• Cultural awareness and irregular warfare: French Army experience in Africa

  Cultural awareness and irregular warfare: French Army experience in Africa. By Henri Bore. Military Review, 2006. Based on the 40+ years of French military experience, the author discusses the need for cultural knowledge and awareness as militaries in Africa seek to frequently transition between various forms of conventional operations and pacification, psychological, and information operations. [HTML]

• Counterinsurgency Field Manual (FM 3-24)

  Counterinsurgency Field Manual (FM 3-24). Department of the Army. 2006. The “paradigm-setting” revision of U.S. military doctrine published based on the fundamental premise that the key to counterinsurgency operations is protecting civilians. This document is the main reference work informing modern U.S. military operations. [HTML]

• Maritime Development in Africa: An Independent Specialists’ Framework

  The African Union Commission, the Brenthurst Foundation, and the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, 2010. Africa’s maritime domain is a critical source of food security, the conduit for 90 percent of continental trade, and vital to its future growth. However, Africa is also the only major region lacking a maritime strategy. Readily available guidelines and legal frameworks should be integrated into Africa’s Common Defense and Security Policy to facilitate an African-led collective security strategy for the maritime domain. [PDF]

• Navies versus Coast Guards: Defining the Roles of African Maritime Security Forces

  By August Vogel. Africa Center for Strategic Studies, 2009. Piracy, illegal fishing, and narcotics and human trafficking are growing rapidly in Africa and represent an increasingly central component of the threat matrix facing the continent. However, African states’ maritime security structures are often misaligned with the challenges posed and need coast guard capabilities and an array of intra-governmental partnerships. [PDF]

• Africa Center for Strategic Studies Announces Opening of Maritime Safety and Security Seminar

  The Africa Center for Strategic Studies welcomed 83 participants from across Africa, the U.S., and Europe during the opening ceremony for the 2010 Maritime Safety and Security Seminar on Apr. 19 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The weeklong program, with the theme of “Capacity Building for Maritime Security in Africa: Comprehensive and Coherent Strategic Approaches,” is focusing on the relationship of maritime security and development in Africa. The participants come from 34 African countries and include senior civilian and security sector officials responsible for maritime security in their respective countries, African subject-matter experts, and representatives from Regional Economic Communities. In his welcoming remarks, U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania Alfonso E. Lenhardt said the seminar will discuss the link between maritime security and development in Africa: “Maritime security forces help provide a safe environment where sustainable growth and development can occur. They fight piracy, enforce regulations protecting fish and other marine resources, combat drug trafficking and other illicit commerce, perform search and rescue operations, prevent illegal immigration, and uphold safe shipping practices, among other duties. Together, these activities facilitate the use of a nation’s water ways for legitimate purposes. Without these activities, national and regional economic development suffers due to denial of the benefits and opportunities presented by the sea, lakes, and rivers.”

  Ambassador Lenhardt then spoke directly about the threat of piracy:

  “Piracy is a worldwide problem, as our West African colleagues here can attest. Also, waterborne bandits are not only a saltwater phenomenon. Tanzania’s freshwater international coastline is well over twice as long as its seacoast. Lakes Victoria, Tanganyika, and Nyasa (or Malawi) and the Ruvuma River all present their own set of security challenges. Nor is piracy the only threat to maritime security. Illegal fishing combined with technological innovations have seriously depleted fish stocks. Trawlers from distant countries often enter East African waters without paying licensing fees or observing conservation laws, looting resources, and denying legitimate revenue to the people of this region. Several hundred miles to the northwest, Lake Victoria, already endangered by climate change and pollution, is also threatened by over-fishing.  This affects the livelihood of millions of Africans from three different countries. And just beyond the beach here in Dar es Salaam, it is common to hear the occasional muffled explosion from dynamite fishing. These are examples of some of the challenges we currently face when developing strategies to protect marine resources and solve maritime issues.” The Ambassador called on the participants to use the seminar as an opportunity for positive collaboration: “During the next several days, we can all discuss what works best, what is not working, and together, plan for the future. Let’s take the time to talk to one another and exchange best practices that can be implemented in our countries. I am confident that this seminar will give you an opportunity to deepen your professional bonds this week and enhance your ability to affect positive change.” This is the second seminar on maritime safety and security to be held in Africa under the sponsorship of the Africa Center. The seminar addresses an urgent need along Africa’s coastal areas. Failure to pay attention to these issues has had a negative impact on stability, human security, and economic development in the region. The seminar is consistent with the U.S. Government’s ongoing efforts to assist in the development of African capacity to address the continent’s security challenges.

  ###

  U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania Alfonso E. Lenhardt addresses participants of the 2010 Maritime Safety and Security Seminar at the Movenpick Hotel in Dar es Salaam.

  Participants of the Maritime Safety and Security Seminar gather on the first day of the weeklong event. Shown front row center is U.S. Ambassador Alfonso E. Lenhardt. On his left is Dr. Hussein Mwinyi, Tanzanian Minister of Defense and National Service, and Cape Verde Minister of Defense Maria Cristina Fontes Lima. On the Ambassador’s right is Dr. Monde Muyangwa, the Africa Center’s Academic Dean.

  View more photos from this event:

• Bad Order at Sea: From the Gulf of Aden to the Gulf of Guinea

  Africa's western and eastern coasts host the world's highest number of attacks at sea. However, the nature of these maritime security environments differ markedly in terms of targets, levels of violence, and links to onshore politics. International response in East Africa has been substantial, but the mechanisms for maritime governance in West Africa in some ways bear more promise for sustainable security.[PDF]

• The Maritime Security Quandary in the Horn of Africa Region: Causes, Consequences, and Responses

  The Maritime Security Quandary in the Horn of Africa Region: Causes, Consequences, and Responses. By Thean Potgieter. Hanns Seidel Foundation, Kenya. 2008. This article focuses on Somalia-related off-shore security challenges with a discussion of the causes of maritime security challenges in the wider region. [PDF]

• Enhancing Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea

  Enhancing Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea. By Raymond Gilpin. Strategic Insights, 2007. A brief overview of the maritime security challenges in the Gulf of Guinea, followed by a call for greater regional cooperation and civic engagement. The autho highlights the human security implications (economic losses, trade and shipping, and in relation to the UN's Millennium Development Goals) of the maritime security challenge in Africa. [PDF]

• Legal and Policy Dimensions of Coastal Zone Monitoring and Control: The Case in Ghana

  Legal and Policy Dimensions of Coastal Zone Monitoring and Control: The Case in Ghana. By Ali Kamal-Deen. Ocean Development & International Law, 2004. The author outlines the challenges to coastal zone monitoring and control in Ghana, as well as the technological tools (and their legal implications) available to relevant security sectors. A well-written case study from the perspective of a member of the Ghanaian armed forces. [PDF]

• Calming the Waters: The East African Community and Conflict Over the Nile Resources

  By Peter Kagwanja. Journal of Eastern African Studies, 2007. Disputes over the Nile River have at times prompted bellicose diplomatic exchanges since its management is a vital strategic interest for the 10 mainly arid countries that use its water to irrigate crops, power hydroelectric dams, and sustain growing populations. Work by the East African Community has fostered confidence in collaboration between states and AU action plans provide successful models to avoid disputes and promote cooperation elsewhere. [PDF]

• From Greed to Grievance: Natural Resources and Conflict in Africa

  By Elisabeth Feleke.  Cambria Press, December 2009. Controlling resources is a strategic priority for both African gvernments and armed non-state actors who use these revenues to finance military operations, thereby accelerating resource depletion, environmental degradation, and insecurity. Poor resource management also can strain traditional means for resolving tensions. Effective governance mechanisms to manage resources can not only prevent such insecurity but also utilize Africa’s resource abundance for sustainable development. [more]

• From Greed to Grievance: Natural Resources and Conflict in Africa

  "Chapter 8: From Greed to Grievance: Natural Resources and Conflict in Africa" in African Environmental and Human Security in the 21st Century.  By Elisabeth Feleke.  Cambria Press, December 2009. Resource endowments have played a prominent role in numerous African conflicts. Controlling these resources is a strategic priority for both gvernments as well as armed non-state actors who use these revenues to finance their military operations thereby exacerbating and prolonging conflict. Poor resource management can strain traditional mechanisms for resolving tensions and conflict accelerates resource depletion, creating a cycle of environmental degradation and insecurity. Cooperative governance mechanisms to manage resources, such as the Nile Basin Initiative, can not only prevent insecurity but utilize Africa's resource abundance as a means of sustainable development. [PDF]

• Governance Strategies to Remedy the Natural Resource Curse

  Governance strategies to remedy the natural resource curse, By Joseph Siegle. International Social Science Journal. UNESCO, 2009. The seemingly paradoxical outcome of resource-rich countries being development-poor is, in fact, quite predictable given the autocratic governments that often manage resource-rich states. Addressing the resource curse requires changing the incentives facing political leaders so that they are rewarded for transparency and confront robust international legal penalties when they do not. Read the article online

• Chronicle of a Death Foretold: The Collapse of the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline Project

  Chronicle of a Death Foretold: The Collapse of the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline Project. By Scott Pegg. African Affairs, 2009. The Chad-Cameroon pipeline was a novel World Bank-sponsored consortium intended to generate a revenue windfall and ensure it was spent responsibly. In September 2008 the World Bank ended its role after Chad diverted oil revenues. Rather than breaking the “resource curse,” the pipeline is now cited as another cautionary example of how improper resource management subverts development and stability.   Read the article online

• Chronicle of a Death Foretold: The Collapse of the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline Project

  Chronicle of a Death Foretold: The Collapse of the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline Project. By Scott Pegg. African Affairs, 2009. A clear, concise study of the Chad-Cameroon pipeline project - the largest single private sector investment in Africa - which the World Bank and other stakeholders had optimistically hoped would serve as a new model for natural resource management in Africa until the World Bank formally ended its role in the project in September 2008. [HTML]

• Governance Strategies to Remedy the Natural Resource Curse

  Governance Strategies to Remedy the Natural Resource Curse. By Joseph Siegle. International Social Science Journal. UNESCO, 2009. Recognizes the strong relationship between autocratic governance and the natural resource curse (especially oil). Remedying the frequently deleterious effects of natural resource wealth, therefore, must necessarily have a governance dimension - to enhance transparency, accountability, and responsiveness to the general population. [HTML]

• Rowing Against the Current: The Diversification Challenge in Africa's Resource-Rich Economies

  Rowing Against the Current: The Diversification Challenge in Africa's Resource-Rich Economies. By John Page. The Brookings Institute, 2008. Thoughtful analysis that examines remedies to the resource-curse from an economic perspective - in particular how to overcome the economic and political distortions created from a single, commodity-dependent economy. [HTML]

• Promoting Transparency in the African Oil Sector

  Promoting Transparency in the African Oil Sector. Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2004. A well-written synopsis of U.S. interests in West and Central Africa (governance, regional stability, HIV/AIDS, counterterrorism, economic security, trade), followed by a menu of options for U.S. policy-makers. [PDF]

• The China-Africa Toolkit: A Resource for African Policymakers

  South African Institute for International Affairs, 2009. In addition to $100 billion in annual two-way trade, China provides $13 billion in assistance and supports several peace operations in Africa. To better shape this relationship in a form that enhances and sustains development Africa's policymakers should familiarize themselves with the fundamental drivers of Chinese interests on the continent. [PDF]

• Implications of a Comprehensive or Integrated Approach for Training in United Nations and African Union Peace Operations

  By Cedric de Coning.  Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, 2009. Since 2004 the UN has sought to better align security, political, development, governance, and humanitarian activities within peace operations toward common strategic objectives.  This "Integrated Approach" concept will require additional training for mission personnel regarding the peace and political process governing a particular post-conflict setting, the sequence of  reconstruction strategies, and special coordination mechanisms with bilateral donors, the AU, and NGOs. [PDF]

• Lessons Learned from Peace Operations in Africa

   "Lessons Learned from Peace Operations in Africa" by Paul Williams. Peace operations have been a principal tool used to curb conflict in Africa over the past decade, with over 40 operations deployed since 2000. This article takes stock of lessons learned from these experiences and the implications they hold for improving the effectiveness of future peace operations in Africa. [ENGLISH] [FRENCH] [PORTUGUESE]

• The AU in Sudan: Lessons for the African Standby Force

  The AU in Sudan: Lessons for the African Standby Force. By Catherine Guicherd. International Peace Institute, 2007. Fifty military, police, and civilian representatives from African states and organizations reviewed the AU's peacekeeping mission in Darfur and proposed strategic- and operational-level recommendations regarding African-led peacekeeping mission structures, planning, operations, and resource allocations. Specific aims were also developed for African states, the AU, regional organizations and international partners.  PDF

• Keeping the Peace in Africa: Why "African" Solutions Are Not Enough

  Keeping the Peace in Africa: Why "African" Solutions Are Not Enough. By Paul D. Williams. Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, 2008 While security in Africa depends on African stakeholders assuming ownership over stabilization strategies, demands for "African solutions to African problems" oversimplify the resources and partnerships necessary to ensure peace. Using this mantra, autocrats can thwart democracy promotion and the priority the UN gives to African security efforts may be downgraded.  [HTML]

• The African Standby Force: An Update on Progress

  By Jakkie Cilliers. Institute for Security Studies, 2009. A detailed update on the growth of the continental (AU) and regional (RECs) institutions designed to execute strategy and operations for the five African peace brigades. Includes information on the logistical plans, command and control, equipment, and mandates of the ASF. [PDF]

• UN Peacekeeping in Civil Wars

  UN Peacekeeping in Civil Wars. By Lise Morjé Howard. Cambridge University Press, 2008. Chapter on peacekeeping failures in Somalia, Rwanda, Angola, and Bosnia takes the less conventional view that the UN record actually includes a number of important, though understudied, success stories. Howard argues that UN peacekeeping succeeds when field missions establish significant autonomy from UN headquarters, allowing civilian and military staff to adjust to the post-civil war environment. Howard recommends future reforms be oriented toward devolving decision-making power to the field missions. [GOOGLE BOOKS]

• Peacekeeping Experiences in Africa from Organization of African Unity to the African Union: An Analytical Historical Perspective

  By Geofrey Mugumya. The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI), 2007. A brief history of the peacekeeping efforts of the OAU, followed by a description of the new peace and security architecture of the African Union. The article concludes with a look at the future of peacekeeping operations in Africa. [PDF]

• Diplomatic Efforts Against the Gulf of Aden Pirates: A Model from the Gulf of Guinea

  By James Kraska and Brian Wilson.  Harvard International Review, 2009. The maritime domain is predominantly international and therefore efforts to address piracy require multi-national collaboration. Exemplary initiatives such as the sub-regional coast guard network arranged by the Maritime Organization of West and Central Africa and the Maritime Security Trust Fund of the International Maritime Organization deserve greater support and attention. [LINK]

• Counting the Costs of Somali Piracy

  By Raymond Gilpin.  United States Institute of Peace, 2009. Piracy off the coast of Somalia is driven by complex inter-clan politics, poverty, and business networks. U.S. and EU interdiction efforts have focused on military responses and maritime surveillance platforms – missing many of these underlying factors. Paradoxically, successful anti-piracy measures may only weaken clans that regularly resist the expansion of Islamic extremist groups that threaten their regions. [PDF]

• Fish, Family, and Profit; Piracy and the Horn of Africa

  By Gary E.Weir. Naval War College Review, 2009. An up-to-date primer on piracy in the Horn of Africa. A readable recent history of the evolution of the piracy industry, as well as an interesting section on how to make “human network” cooperation among regional and state actors work. [PDF]

• Piracy off the Horn of Africa

  By Lauren Ploch. Congressional Research Service, 2009. An in-depth analysis of the increase in pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia that began in 2008. Written for congressional lawmakers, the paper looks at U.S. and international (chiefly NATO and European Union) policy responses as of April 2009. [PDF]

• Pirates and How to Deal With Them

  By Roger Middleton. Chatham House, 2009. This paper reports on the proceedings of a roundtable of experts brought together in February 2009 to clarify some of the legal concerns around combating piracy off the Somali coast, focusing on the international legal framework on piracy and legal issues surrounding the arrest and prosecution of pirates. [PDF]

• A Field-Based Review of the Peacebuilding Commission in Burundi

  By Dr. Shepard Forman, Gigja Sorensen and Rahul Chandra, Center on International Cooperation, NYU, 2010. The authors review the effectiveness and challenges of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) and the Country-Specific Meetings (CSM) that the United Nations mission in Burundi has faced since their inception in 2006. Based on interviews with key actors and leading experts, the authors were able to identify five major areas of concern. These include lack of effective political dialogue among both domestic and international actors, the continued risks posed by the 2010 elections, and the challenge of ensuring successful disarmament and security sector reform.  The problem of overall donor coordination is also identified. In spite of these challenges, the authors argue that the continuous existence of the PBC and CSM creates a valuable mechanism for international engagement with Burundi at this critical time. [PDF]

• The Emergence of a Somali State: Building Peace from Civil War in Somaliland

  The Emergence of a Somali State: Building Peace from Civil War in Somaliland. By Michael Walls. African Affairs, 2009. The article looks at the 1991-3 peace process in Somaliland and argues that it was a success because it was built on a set of deeply embedded social norms that emphasized the importance of dialogue between antagonists and a sustained commitment to consensus building in preference to divisive voting. [HTML]

• Employment Creation, Income Generation, and Reintegration in Post-Conflict Settings

  Employment Creation, Income Generation, and Reintegration in Post-Conflict Settings. United Nations, 2008. An overview of concepts and lessons learned in generating employment in post-conflict settings - frequently cited as a key factor in creating stability and fostering recovery. The analysis argues that of particular importance is the targeting of youth unemployment, understanding labor markets, and ensuring inclusivity. [PDF]

• The AU and the Challenge of Unconstitutional Changes of Government in Africa

  By Issaka Souare. Institute for Security Studies, 2009. African coups occasionally prompt upbeat assertions that, though unconstitutional, such actions may conveniently remove ineffective governments.  But standing African Union (AU) declarations protect constitutional governance in Africa, not effective governance.  To better protect both constitutional and effective governance, AU agreements should consider more specific guidance on executive term limits and institutional checks-and-balances. [PDF]

• Madagascar: Regional Path to Peace

  By Peter Kagwanja and Thomas Kimaru. Africa Policy Institute, 2009. Political polarization and an inability to sufficiently engage opposition views continue to plague mediation efforts following a 2009 military-backed coup d’état. To create a sustainable resolution, the African Union, neighboring states, and international actors should prioritize broad national reconciliation and security sector professionalism initiatives.  [PDF]

• The Theory of Collective Response

  The Theory of Collective Response. By Charles Sampford and Margaret Palmer. Lexington Books, 2005. [PDF] This opening chapter in a longer work chronicles the deficiencies in international law and international response to coups d’état in developing democracies. By recognizing the principle of "effective control" as opposed to "consent of the governed" as indicators of regime sovereignty and legitimacy, the international community and international law fail to discourage unconstitutional changes in government and anti-democratic behavior in developing countries. The authors propose practical options to influence and intervene when democracy is threatened in developing countries.

• The AU and the Challenge of Unconstitutional Changes of Government in Africa

  The AU and the Challenge of Unconstitutional Changes of Government in Africa. By Issaka Souare. Institute for Security Studies, 2009. [PDF] Several of the nine African coups that occurred since 2000 ousted undemocratic civilian regimes, prompting assertions that such unconstitutional actions may be an expedient option to remove ineffective or repressive governments. However, Souare contends that the core African Union (AU) documents regarding elections and governance aspire to establish and protect constitutional governance in Africa, not effective governance per se. But these AU documents are not without their shortcomings. New strategies to bind AU member states to limits on number and lengths of executive terms in office may improve efforts to prevent unconstitutional changes in government.

• Foreign Aid and Democratization: Benin and Niger Compared.

  Foreign Aid and Democratization: Benin and Niger Compared. By Mamoudou Gazibo. African Studies Review, 2005. Two West African states began the 1990s with newly formed democratic governments. By the close of the decade, Benin had further consolidated democracy while Niger experienced a series of destabilizing events culminating in a coup d’état. These differing trajectories are due largely to a sequence of key political reforms implemented in Benin that insured continued donor assistance and support, according to Gazibo. His analysis may provide lessons to avoid democratic setbacks in other African states. [HTML]

• Demilitarising the Political Process in Africa: Some Basic Issues.

  Demilitarising the Political Process in Africa: Some Basic Issues. By Eboe Hutchful. African Security Review, 1997. A classic piece in which Hutchful analyzes the history of political activity of Africa’s armed forces. Many African militaries have assumed a range of political roles since independence, and, consequently, transition to democratic control of the armed forces will likely be a long-term process that mere constitutional structures cannot guarantee. Rather, budgetary, institutional, training, and doctrinal devices will be needed to prevent military coups and political infringement in the short- and medium-term, Hutchful concludes. [HTML]

Other Reads

• The United States and Maghreb-Sahel Security

  By Yahia Zoubir. International Affairs, 2009. The United States has succeeded in creating an effective security network that brings together the Maghreb and Sahel states. However, this cooperative framework focuses narrowly on the threat of terrorism, giving less emphasis to problems such as poverty, poor governance, lack of democracy, corruption, and economic mismanagement that constrain the region. This risks reinforcing the extremism, trafficking, and expanding criminal networks that threaten regional stability.  [PDF]

• Indo - African Defence Cooperation: Need For Enhanced Thrust.

  Indo - African Defence Cooperation: Need For Enhanced Thrust. By Arvind Dutta. Institute for Defense Studies & Analysis, 2008. India has a growing relationship with Africa and enhanced military-to-military exchange can further improve these ties to mutual benefit. Given shared security interests and the value of greater South-South cooperation, India can enhance its current relationship with Africa by helping to fill capacity-building gaps toward a more constructive engagement. [PDF]

• China’s African Aid: Transatlantic Challenges.

  China’s African Aid: Transatlantic Challenges. By Deborah Brautigam. The German Marshall Fund of the United States, 2008. China’s growing assistance and loans in Africa have often been interpreted as a strategic effort to gain diplomatic leverage and secure proprietary access to natural resources. Yet China distributes aid widely across the continent, not just to resource-rich countries suggesting a more complex Chinese engagement in Africa and a still-evolving aid policy. [PDF]

• U.S. Foreign Assistance and Trade Policies in Africa

  U.S. Foreign Assistance and Trade Policies in Africa. By Princeton Lyman. Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2009. Excellent review of the challenges of U.S. foreign assistance in Africa. Assesses policy options, competing priorities, and potential pitfalls of organizational reform. Calls for the establishment of an agreed upon conceptual framework on USG efforts to enhance the development-security linkage, which in turn can drive any restructuring. More generally, the piece challenges U.S. foreign policymakers to assess what they are hoping to achieve through US foreign assistance programs.

• China’s Next Security Strategy for Africa

  China’s Next Security Strategy for Africa. By Jonathan Holslag. Brussels Institute of Contemporary China Studies, 2008. An excellent overview of China's security policy based on research undertaken in China and several sub-Saharan African countries. [PDF]

• Ghana's Foreign Policy and Transnational Security Challenges in West Africa

  Ghana's Foreign Policy and Transnational Security Challenges in West Africa. By Prosper Nii Nortey Addo. Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 2008. Focuses on Ghana's security culture as reflected in its foreign policy, and how it has influenced the way the country addresses transnational security challenges in ECOWAS.

• India's Expanding Relations with the Africa and Their Implications for U.S. Interests

  India's Expanding Relations with the Africa and Their Implications for U.S. Interests. By J. Peter Pham. American Foreign Policy Interests, 2007. A brief history of India-Africa relations, followed by India's current interests on the continent, especially with regards to military cooperation and natural resources. [PDF]

• Shaping U.S. Policy on Africa: Pillars of a New Strategy

  Shaping U.S. Policy on Africa: Pillars of a New Strategy. By Johnnie Carson. Institute for National Strategic Studies Strategic Forum, 2004. Excellent strategic overview of Africa's security challenges and avenues for constructive U.S. engagement. Recognizes that many of Africa's challenges are political and economic in orientation. Broad-ranging and concise. [PDF]

• Addressing the Problem of Failed States: A New Instrument

  By John E. Herbst. PRISM, 2009. Governance failures and shortcomings are a prime source of instability and violence as they contribute to state failure. Many international partners working with the UN, African Union, and non-governmental organizations are scaling up their capacity to deploy teams of wide-ranging civilian experts to assist states during such governance shortfalls in order to prevent crises and restore security and stability. [PDF]

• Economic Drivers of Conflict and Cooperation in the Horn of Africa

  By Roy Love.  Chatham House, 2009. The four cross-border regions of the Horn of Africa exemplify a complex development-security nexus in which politics, inter-elite struggles, resource endowments, poverty and other seemingly distinct phenomena all interact. They also illuminate how local initiatives and international aid programs can enhance development and reduce conflict. [PDF]

• Democracy and Development: Overcoming Autocratic Legacies

  Poor countries are more vulnerable to crisis, be it economic, humanitarian, or open conflict. Cross-national analysis, however, shows that the development performance of low-income democracies significantly outpaces that of autocracies – and do so with less volatility. Sustaining democratization, therefore, is a priority for attaining both development and security objectives.  PDF   For additional reading go to: Security and Development

• Integrating 21st Century Development and Security Assistance

    Integrating 21st Century Development Assistance. By Kathleen Hicks and J. Stephen Morrison. Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2008 U.S. interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan have laid bare deficiencies in U.S. policies and capacities for fostering development and stabilization in conflict-affected contexts. This has led to greater integration of U.S. military and civilian efforts to overcome these challenges. While progress has been made, significant imbalances between development and security assistance remain. [PDF] For additional reading go to: Security and Development

• Lessons Learned

  Lessons Learned. By Martin Rupiya. Institute for Strategic Studies, 2006. Based on his research conducted with the participation of the armed forces of Botswana, Swaziland, and Zambia, the author discusses the challenges addressing HIV/AIDS in southern Africa. [PDF]

• Investing in Peace: How Development Aid Can Prevent or Promote Conflict

  Investing in Peace: How Development Aid Can Prevent or Promote Conflict. By Robert J. Muscat. M.E. Sharpe, 2002. The author examines nine cases in which the work of development agencies exacerbated or ameliorated the root causes of conflict. This permits some generalizations about the efficacy or deleterious effects of development programs on conflict -- and of their futility when the conflict-prevention dimension of international assistance efforts is ignored. [HTML]

• Local Ownership of Security Sector Reform: A Guide for Donors

  Edited by Laurie Nathan. Department for International Development and the CRISIS States Research Centre, 2007. Reform processes often fall short when those undertaking them lack a sense of ownership and investment. Experiences from Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and elsewhere reveal how donors can better assist security sector reformers to overcome political and organizational struggles and make SSR a national priority, enact necessary legislative provisions, and execute appropriate programs and projects. [PDF]

• Challenges of Security Sector Governance in West Africa

  Challenges of Security Sector Governance in West Africa. By Alan Bryden, Boubacar N’Diaye and ’Funmi Olonisakin, eds. LIT Verlag, 2008. Efforts to reform the security services in West Africa face civil-military mistrust, vaguely defined missions, and misaligned structures, among other obstacles. This compendium assesses the configuration, operational efficiency, and civil oversight of the security sector in 16 West African countries finding noteworthy reforms and priorities for improvement. [HTML]

• Right-financing Security Sector Reform

  Right-financing Security Sector Reform. By Peter Middlebrook and Gordon Peake. Center on International Cooperation Political Economy Research Institute, 2008. Security sector reform requires more than just training and equipping a professional and well-structured military. Management, monitoring, and other administrative mechanisms are also key to constructing an efficient and responsible security service. Priority features of this reform entail fiscal, long-term, and regular assessment strategies as well as better donor coordination. [PDF]

• Towards a Code of Conduct for Armed and Security Forces in Africa

  Towards a Code of Conduct for Armed and Security Forces in Africa. By Adedeji Ebo. Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, 2005. The author looks at the problems hindering the adoption and development of a normative, continent-wide code of conduct for African militaries, namely a "crisis of ownership" and a culture in the armed and security forces that is not more developmental and humanitarian. [HTML]

• Security Sector Governance in Africa: A Handbook

  Security Sector Governance in Africa: A Handbook. By Nicole Ball and Kayode Fayemi. CDD, 2004. A major work addressing key actors in the security sector in Africa; the role and impact of democratic governance on the security sector; policy development and implementation in the security sector; financial management; regional actors and their impact on security sector governance; and challenges and opportunities in transforming the security sector.  [HTML]

• Leadership and the Challenges of Command: The Ghana Military Experience

  Leadership and the Challenges of Command: The Ghana Military Experience. By Daniel Kwadjo Frimpong. Afram Publications (Ghana) Limited, 2003. Frimpong proposes ways to improve civil-military relations in Ghana, with implications for the general subject.

• Cameroon: Fragile State?

  International Crisis Group, 2010. Cameroon rarely garners as much attention as Africa's more turbulent countries, but its political system may prove too rigid to manage a stagnating economy, inequalities embedded in ethnic differences, and extensive corruption. A more transparent and accountable electoral administration system and general respect of the rule of law may better stem various weaknesses from destabilizing the country. [PDF]

• U.S. Policy Toward Fragile States: An Integrated Approach to Security and Development

  U.S. Policy Toward Fragile States: An Integrated Approach to Security and Development. By Stewart Patrick. Center for global Devleopment, 2008. An updated version of an earlier work by Patrick for the Center for Global Development. Patrick argues that fragile states do not compromise a monolithic phenomenon, but can take on different forms and contribute to a variety of transnational threats in distinct ways. Thus, the U.S. and other international actors must tailor multi-pronged diplomatic, defense, and development (3D) engagement strategies to assist these threats to global security. Patrick reviews U.S. efforts to date, and finds a variety of well-intentioned but ultimately insufficient inter-agency and multi-lateral collaborative efforts. Five specific tasks to overcome this deficient response to transnational threats and state instability are offered for the Obama administration. [PDF]

• Concepts and Dilemmas of State Building in Fragile Situations: From Fragility to Resilience

  Concepts and Dilemmas of State Building in Fragile Situations: From Fragility to Resilience. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2008. This paper from OECD’s fragile states initiative contends that fragility is rooted in a misalignment of expectations between citizen and regime, which “are reconciled and brought into equilibrium with the state’s capacity to deliver services.” This misalignment and disequilibrium are caused and driven by a series of domestic and international factors. Various strategies to aid state-building, including how to engage with authoritarian regimes, are outlined. A lengthy document, but one with useful insights. [PDF]

• ‘State-Building for Peace’: Navigating an Arena of Contradictions

  ‘State-Building for Peace’: Navigating an Arena of Contradictions. By Alina Rocha Menocal. Overseas Development Institute, 2009. This brief work examines the differences and similarities between "state-building" and "peace-building." Many international actors often conflate the two, with repercussions on programs intended to assist fragile states. For example, efforts to forge peace often require the acceptance of political arrangements that later undermine state stability, such as working with elites at the expense of forming an inclusive government. The authors offer recommendations for donors, some of which may be useful for field practitioners in state-building efforts. [HTML]

• Closing the Sovereignty Gap: An Approach to State-Building.

  Closing the Sovereignty Gap: An Approach to State-Building. By Ashraf Ghani, Clare Lockhart and Michael Carnahan. Overseas Development Institute, 2005. Three analysts with experience working in unstable regions develop a template for strengthening weak states. There are 10 fundamental functions a state must fulfill in order to achieve stability and sovereignty. From this basic conception of state responsibilities, a "report card" can developed to assess particular “sovereignty gaps” within weak states, or areas where a state cannot fulfill its fundamental tasks. To address these gaps, donors can develop and implement a “sovereignty strategy,” a guideline for which is developed by the authors with the proviso that strategies must be tailored to the context of differing states. [PDF]

Other Reads