THE PEACEMAKING PEACEBUILDING-DEVELOPMENT NEXUS: MARRYING SOUTH AFRICA'S PEACE DIPLOMACY AND DEVELOPMENT AGENDA

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Faith Mabera

South Africa has often been lauded as an influential and pivotal actor inpeace and security affairs on the evolving African peace and security architecture. The centrality of Africa in South Africa's foreign policy has driven its exercise of peace diplomacy in a significant number of conflicts in Africa; where its mode of engagement has ranged from mediation to peacekeeping and post-conflict reconstruction and development assistance. Concomitant to its peace actor profile, South Africa's repertoire as an emerging development partner also forms a large part of its African agenda. The embedding of sustainable peace as a goal in the post2015 development agenda and the enduring relevance of the securitydevelopment nexus continue to exert profound influence on the parameters and conduct of South Africa's foreign policy and its pointedly Afro-centric agenda. This article argues for greater integration and harmonisation between South Africa's peace diplomacy and its development partnership agenda through the formulation of a peacebuilding and stabilisation strategy.

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 179-194
Author(s):  
Bewuketu Dires Gardachew

This study critically explores the extent to which the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) (such as the African Standby Force (ASF), the Continental Early Warning System (CEWS), Panel of the Wise (PoW) and the Peace Fund (PF)) have been successful in achieving their institutional objectives, as well as the degree to which they are able to contribute to the work of the African Union Peace and Security Council (AU PSC). The AU PSC as a key pillar of the APSA is the main decision-making body regarding issues of peace and security. In order to achieve its responsibility, the AU PSC shall be supported by the African Standby Force, the Continental Early Warning System, Panel of the Wise and the Peace Fund. APSA is the umbrella term for the key African Union (AU) mechanisms for promoting peace, security and stability in the African continent. More specifically, it is an operational structure for the effective implementation of the decisions taken in the areas of conflict prevention, peace-making, peace support operations and intervention, as well as peace-building and post-conflict reconstruction. APSA is envisioned as a means by which Africa can take a greater role in managing peace and security on the continent, with the objective of offering “African solutions to African problems”.


2020 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 569-586
Author(s):  
Peya Mushelenga

This article discusses aspects of Namibia’s foreign policy principles and how they impact on the values of democracy, and issue of peace and security in the region. The article will focus on the attainment of peace in Angola, democratisation of South Africa, and security situations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Madagascar and Lesotho. The main question of this article is: To what extent has Namibia realised the objectives encapsulated in her foreign policy principles of striving for international peace and security and promote the values of democracy in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region? The assumption is that though relatively a newly established state, Namibia has made her contribution towards democracy, peace and security in the Southern Africa region and the world at large.


Author(s):  
John Akokpari

A União Africana estabeleceu uma Arquitetura de Paz e Segurança para prevenção e resolução de conflitos que permaneceram de forma endêmica no continente. A iniciativa também serve para distinguir a UA de sua antecessora, a Organização de Unidade Africana, que teve um terrível histórico na resolução de conflitos. No entanto, além dos antigos desafios de restrições financeiras e conflitos perenes, a APS enfrenta um novo desafio na forma de posturas contraditórias da África do Sul sobre questões críticas de segurança. Juntos, esses desafios viciam a capacidade da UA de conter conflitos rapidamente. Também, posições contraditórias da África do Sul sobre certas questões de segurança minaram a unidade dos membros da UA. Este último foi demonstrado na falta inicial de consenso na eleição do Presidente da Comissão da UA.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 322-333
Author(s):  
Bewuketu Dires Gardachew

This study critically explores the extent to which the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) (such as the African Standby Force (ASF), the Continental Early Warning System (CEWS), Panel of the Wise (PoW) and the Peace Fund (PF)) have been successful in achieving their institutional objectives, as well as the degree to which they are able to contribute to the work of the African Union Peace and Security Council (AU PSC). The AU PSC as a key pillar of the APSA is the main decision-making body regarding issues of peace and security. In order to achieve its responsibility, the AU PSC shall be supported by the African Standby Force, the Continental Early Warning System, Panel of the Wise and the Peace Fund. APSA is the umbrella term for the key African Union (AU) mechanisms for promoting peace, security and stability in the African continent. More specifically, it is an operational structure for the effective implementation of the decisions taken in the areas of conflict prevention, peace-making, peace support operations and intervention, as well as peace-building and post-conflict reconstruction. APSA is envisioned as a means by which Africa can take a greater role in managing peace and security on the continent, with the objective of offering African solutions to African problems.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Oita Etyang ◽  
Simon Oswan Panyako

Abstract China’s role in the global peace politics has been transformed in the past two decades. Apart from its dominance in the economic realm, China has placed issues of peace and security at the centre of its foreign policy. In Africa, China has actively engaged in Africa’s peace and security agenda from opening a military base in Djibouti to participating and contributing to peace talks in South Sudan. Based on the emerging trends, it would appear that the long-cherished non-interference principle is undergoing a deliberate transformation given the emerging realities in the global geo-politics. It is based on this “paradigmatic shift” that this paper interrogates China’s role in Africa’s peace and security. The paper argues that China’s interest in Africa’s peace and security agenda is driven by economic and geo-political interests. The paper further discusses the role that China has played in military cooperation, peacekeeping, conflict resolution and post conflict reconstruction in Africa using specific country case examples.


2021 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-78
Author(s):  
Cheryl Hendricks ◽  
Nkululeko Majozi

Over the last 25 years, South Africa’s regional and global stature has been in flux. Although there is continuity in its foreign policy objectives, there have been changes in emphasis and application. These changes, together with shifts in the domestic political and economic landscape, have impacted negatively on South Africa’s international relations. President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his 2018 State of the Nation Address, boldly proclaimed a ‘new dawn’ for South Africa. A key aspect of the intended new dawn is the repositioning of South Africa regionally and globally. This paper examines the shifts and the continuity in South Africa’s foreign policy, and the reasons for its waning global and regional stature. The paper argues that South Africa is once again in a position to be a norm- and agenda-setter, especially in relation to peace and security, but that this will be a lost opportunity if there is a lack of the necessary reflection, visioning and redress needed for transformation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Syaiful Anam

This paper examines the transformation within the practice and concept ofcontemporary peacebuilding. Peacebuilding, practically and conceptually, hasbeen dominated by the liberal peace paradigm. In this case, theinstitutionalising of its core ideas such as democratisation, human rights, therule of law, and liberal market system to the post-conflict states and to a socalled ‘fragile/failed states’ aiming at bringing peace and security has failed to create a comprehensive and sustainable peace on the ground as exemplified in Nicaragua, Haiti, Bosnia, Afghanistan, and other post-war states. Scholars focused on the issue of peacebuilding have engaged to a new approach that challenge the domination of the liberal paradigm through the accommodation and appreciation upon the ‘local’ and thus create spaces for the interaction between the liberal and the ‘local’ within forms of ‘hybrid peace’ or ‘hybrid peacebuilding’


Author(s):  
Elizabeth Sidiropoulos

AbstractSince 1994, post-apartheid South Africa has embraced its Southern and African identity, with its foreign policy reflecting its aim to engage in international fora to advance Southern principles and the African voice. It also developed instruments to undertake South-South cooperation that focused largely on sharing its own lessons from its political transformation with post-conflict countries. This chapter explores the tensions between cooperation and contestation in South Africa’s involvement in global development and in its own development cooperation. South Africa has worked on global reforms with large emerging powers, but their interests are not always aligned with those of Africa. South Africa and Africa have derived leverage from their numbers and the related legitimacy in selecting what initiatives of more influential actors they will support.


Author(s):  
Mziwandile Sobantu ◽  
Nqobile Zulu ◽  
Ntandoyenkosi Maphosa

This paper reflects on human rights in the post-apartheid South Africa housing context from a social development lens. The Constitution guarantees access to adequate housing as a basic human right, a prerequisite for the optimum development of individuals, families and communities. Without the other related socio-economic rights, the provision of access to housing is limited in its service delivery. We argue that housing rights are inseparable from the broader human rights discourse and social development endeavours underway in the country. While government has made much progress through the Reconstruction and Development Programme, the reality of informal settlements and backyard shacks continues to undermine the human rights prospects of the urban poor. Forced evictions undermine some poor citizens’ human rights leading courts to play an active role in enforcing housing and human rights through establishing a jurisprudence that invariably advances a social development agenda. The authors argue that the post-1994 government needs to galvanise the citizenship of the urban poor through development-oriented housing delivery.


2020 ◽  
pp. 74-86
Author(s):  
Alexandra Arkhangelskaya

The history of the formation of South Africa as a single state is closely intertwined with events of international scale, which have accordingly influenced the definition and development of the main characteristics of the foreign policy of the emerging state. The Anglo-Boer wars and a number of other political and economic events led to the creation of the Union of South Africa under the protectorate of the British Empire in 1910. The political and economic evolution of the Union of South Africa has some specific features arising from specific historical conditions. The colonization of South Africa took place primarily due to the relocation of Dutch and English people who were mainly engaged in business activities (trade, mining, agriculture, etc.). Connected by many economic and financial threads with the elite of the countries from which the settlers left, the local elite began to develop production in the region at an accelerated pace. South Africa’s favorable climate and natural resources have made it a hub for foreign and local capital throughout the African continent. The geostrategic position is of particular importance for foreign policy in South Africa, which in many ways predetermined a great interest and was one of the fundamental factors of international involvement in the development of the region. The role of Jan Smuts, who served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 to 1924 and from 1939 to 1948, was particularly prominent in the implementation of the foreign and domestic policy of the Union of South Africa in the focus period of this study. The main purpose of this article is to study the process of forming the mechanisms of the foreign policy of the Union of South Africa and the development of its diplomatic network in the period from 1910 to 1948.


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