scholarly journals What a Difference a Decade Makes: Understanding Security Policy Reversals Between the Organisation of African Unity and the African Union

2020 ◽  
pp. 289-316
Author(s):  
John J. Hogan
Keyword(s):  
Security Policy ◽  
African Union ◽  
African Unity

Peaceful Change in Africa

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Kornprobst
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
African Union ◽  
African Unity ◽  
Organization Of African Unity ◽  
Five Elements ◽  
Settlement Of Disputes

This chapter examines contending African interpretations of peace and change; how some of these interpretations have come to constitute continental institutions; and how these institutions, in turn, have succeeded or failed to make a difference. Its argument is threefold. First, African interpretations of peace and change converge around a nexus of five elements: liberty, unity, development, pacific settlement of disputes and democracy. Second, this nexus left a major mark on continental institutions, first the Organization of African Unity and then the African Union. Third, although Africa’s record of peaceful change is very promising when one is to apply markers for peaceful change traditionally used in international relations, the continent has experienced very pronounced and persistent obstacles to implementing the five elements of the much more demanding nexus.

Between the Shadow of History and the ‘Union of People’

2019 ◽  
pp. 98-129
Author(s):  
Antonia Witt
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Human Development ◽  
Human Security ◽  
Organizational Environment ◽  
African Union ◽  
African Unity ◽  
Global Institutions ◽  
African People ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Peace And Development

With the end of the Cold War, we observe two major changes in the way the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and the African Union (AU) sought to legitimate themselves. First, the focus shifted from merely facilitating cooperation to demonstrating that the work of the OAU and later the AU actually made a difference ‘on the ground’; that it led to peace and development, to integration, and to a stronger representation of African interests in global institutions. Second, the AU sought to build its legitimacy on the notion of working not only for and with African states, but also for and with the African people. Legitimation thus increasingly focused on the principles of ‘democracy’, ‘human security’, or ‘human development’. As the chapter reveals, various dynamics in the organizational environment facilitated these changes, but norm entrepreneurship by the OAU/AU bureaucracy was central.

So Far, So Fair: The Local Remedies Rule in the Jurisprudence of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights

2003 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nsongurua J. Udombana
Keyword(s):  
African Union ◽  
African Unity ◽  
Organization Of African Unity ◽  
African Charter ◽  
Heads Of State ◽  
African Commission

Pending the establishment of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights remains the only institutional body for the implementation of the rights guaranteed in the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. The Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), reconstituted as the African Union (AU), established the Commission in 1987, after the entry into force of the African Charter, in 1986, and pursuant to its Article 64 (1). The Commission was established, inter alia, “to promote human and peoples' rights and ensure their protection in Africa.” That is, besides “any other tasks which may be entrusted to it” by the Assembly, the Commission performs three primary functions: it promotes and protects human and peoples' rights and interprets the provisions of the Charter.

Hybrid Regional Order

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 363-394
Author(s):  
Franklin Obinna
Keyword(s):  
Security Policy ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
African Union ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The Future ◽  
Governance Challenges ◽  
Regional Order ◽  
Peace Enforcement ◽  
The One

The un peace operations have undergone significant revisions to calibrate mission mandates in tandem with emerging threats to international peace and security, especially non-traditional security (nts) threats that stem from governance challenges. These multidimensional missions essentially perform statebuilding interventions (sbis) through capacity-building programmes. The future of these missions depends on negotiated political settlements that facilitate the creation of accountable institutions and inclusive societies. Scholars debate the future of un peace missions, especially as it relates to stabilization operations. On the one hand, are the “narrowers” who believe that peace operations should remain focused on stabilizing state authorities. On the other hand, are the “broadeners” who favor people-focused stabilization operations. This article argues for a broad approach. Focusing on the role of regional organizations under Chapter viii of the un Charter, it argues that successive failures by the African Union to implement its doctrinal instruments, particularly the Post Conflict Reconstruction and Development Policy, the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance and the Common African Defence and Security Policy has narrowed its peace interventions in Africa to peace enforcement operations. To be relevant, the African Union needs to focus on the challenges of governance in Africa.

African Union replaces Organization of African Unity

2002 ◽  
Vol 3 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Holger Hestermeyer
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Addis Ababa ◽  
International Organization ◽  
African Union ◽  
African Unity ◽  
Inaugural Meeting ◽  
Organization Of African Unity ◽  
Heads Of State

During their inaugural meeting in Durban, South Africa, on 9 July 2002 the African heads of state replaced the 39-year-old Organization of African Unity (OAU) with the latest international organization: the African Union (AU). With the exception of Morocco that was not a member of the OAU and Madagascar, whose president is not recognized by the OAU/AU all African heads of state attended the ceremony. The AU will be headquartered in Addis Ababa in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

Beyond the African Unification Debate: Why is Pan-African Unity Still a Distant Dream?

2019 ◽  
pp. 15-21
Author(s):  
Sengulo Albert Msellemu ◽  
Hamisi Mathias Machangu
Keyword(s):  
African Diaspora ◽  
African Union ◽  
African Unity ◽  
Kwame Nkrumah ◽  
Pan African ◽  
The Future ◽  
Organization Of African Unity

The idea of the Unification of Africa is not one that should be easily discarded. It is an idea, however, that has experienced major difficulties for those seeking to implement it. Originating in the African Diaspora, it was taken up by figures such as Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere. In its first decades, the project of African unity was institutionalised in the Organization of African Unity. The OAU passed through many vicissitudes and was always a conceptual and political battleground divided between those who wanted swift and speedy unification of African states, and those who favoured more cautious approaches. In a period where the OAU has given way to the African Union, the authors make an impassioned plea for the continuation of the unification projection into the future, even if in a more sober manner more attuned to the complexities of a diverse continent.

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