Exploring the impact of Women Organizations in Peacebuilding in South Sudan; Post Independence Progress

Abstract

This book offers a holistic understanding of the convergence between governance, conflict and security in Africa. It adopts a political economy approach and qualitative research method, funded on unstructured interview and case studies, to unravel the governance and security questions in Africa. There are exhaustive studies on conventional threats to security in post-colonial Africa; however, there has been a dearth of rigorous research on other emerging threats to human security, which have the potency to aggravate Africa’s insecurity and underdevelopment. While cases of armed insurrections and civil wars have reduced on the continent, diverse forms of violent conflicts have endangered the security of lives and property. What explains this trend? As well captured in the volume, the shrinking of many African states and the deepening of structural violence engendered new forms of violent conflict—terrorism, xenophobia, students-led violent protests, gender-based violence, youth-led dissent—and the resurgence of old conflicts, as seen in the new waves of coups in the Sahel and West Africa. Several African states continue to demonstrate their incapacity to ensure peace and security within their territorial delineations. A resurgence of conflict generated by water and land impedes the quests for social stability, security and socio-economic sustainability in many parts of Africa. In the case of land, it manifests as both structural violence (a precondition for physical violence) and farm attacks as experienced in South Africa, where a high level of land-related inequality and physical violence persist. Despite the optimism associated with the ‘Africa rising’ conversation, conventional and contemporary threats to peace have stunted its developmental projects. Indeed, there is a strong connection between security and development. While Paul Coulier’s insisted that economic consideration causes and perpetuates conflict, the literature identifies both economic and political variables—particularly the state and the political power system—as the main determinants of conflict. Africa’s shifting nature of conflict necessitates fresh conversation on exploring effective contextual techniques to ensure Africa’s peace and security. Furthermore, the changing character of the security landscape reveals a rising gap between practice and classical thoughts on conflict, security and governance. Thus, the editor of the book, Oye Akinola, received support from the Institute of Pan-African Thought and Conversation (IPATC) at the University of Johannesburg, to host an author’s workshop and brainstorm new trends on conflict and security and the imperativeness of proffering sustainable recommendations for policymaking. The authors in this volume attended and made paper presentations at the workshop, between 10 and 11 March 2022, at the Sheraton Hotel in Pretoria, South Africa.