The New Regionalism in Africa by J. Andrew Grant & Fredrik Söderbaum

Author:J. Andrew Grant & Fredrik Söderbaum [Grant, J. Andrew & Söderbaum, Fredrik]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: International Relations, Political Science, General
ISBN: 9780754632627
Google: BMaNAAAAMAAJ
Goodreads: 6769953
Publisher: Ashgate
Published: 2003-01-15T11:37:03+00:00

Networks for Peace

New, more positive forms of governance appear to be emerging, albeit in diffuse, fluid and informal guises, in response to the insecurities associated with networks of plunder. In Africa, as elsewhere, these forms of collaboration among various state and non-state actors are emerging to the extent that it is possible to postulate that these are the rudiments of ‘new security communities’.12 These consist of networks – often quite unstable – of several types of actors from both inside and outside government that are involved in various peace processes from prevention through peace-making, -keeping and -building. Besides governmental and intergovernmental officials and agencies, these networks include NGOs of various types, increasing numbers of think-tanks and, with respect to some issues, certain companies. Individual networks tend to emerge around single issues of human insecurity, such as landmines, guns, drugs, corruption, HIV/AIDS, ecological threats and refugees. However, some are connected by over-lapping membership and all are connected conceptually, I would argue, because of the impossibility of separating these issues from each other and from the broader issues of political economy (and specifically, the political economy of conflict in Africa).

Many of these networks have emerged as advocacy coalitions (Keck and Sikkink, 1998; Florini, 2001). These tend to have global scope but often are organized around specific regional issues and regional bases of operations. In Africa, there are several such networks that focus on issues of conflict and security (Grant et al, 2003). For instance, the transnational, mixed-actor campaign against anti-personnel mines (i.e., the Ottawa Process), which was one of the first to come to public attention, brought African non-governmental agencies in as advocates for the cause and governments as signatories to the UN Convention which resulted.13 Following a somewhat different pattern from the Ottawa Process, another coalition, this on conflict or ‘blood’ diamonds has developed very rapidly over the past two years. The Kimberley Process, which is the established core of the campaign began with a meeting organized by the South African government in May 2000 and has grown to include more than 30 governments and several NGOs and business representatives that are working to reduce the illegal trade in diamonds through more effective regulatory processes.14 A third issue that has generated considerable activity of late is the issue of small arms. Partly because of pressure from NGOs, and partly because of the energy generated by the UN conference on the topic during the summer of 2001, national governments and regional organizations in Africa are seeking ways to regulate and restrict the sale of firearms and ammunition to civilians, set up registries of gun ownership, institute amnesty and buy-back programs to remove surplus weapons from populations and develop cooperative link among different levels of law enforcement (ISS, 1998).

Although there are obvious connections among these issues and among the coalitions that have developed around them, the campaign and strategies, by necessity, are quite different. For instance, in contrast to landmines whose use is limited directly to quite specific conflict situations, both diamonds and small arms have civil as well as military purposes, thus making their control much more complex.

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