L250 : International Relation : Assessment Answers

Discussion: Assess the effectiveness of the African Union in addressing regional security issues.

 

What makes cooperation more or less likely in Africa?

The effectiveness of the African Union in addressing regional security.

The African Union is formed by fifty-five nations which have come together with the objective of addressing challenges they faced during the colonial error. One of the problems that the union face is the insecurity in the African region according to Adebajo (2015). However, there are strategies that the Union has put in place to enable it fights the challenges. The approach defines its effectiveness in addressing security. The first thing that proves its efficacy is that African Union has outlined the failures of the first union, that is OAU and established a framework to curb the loopholes according to Varin, (2016). For instance, what was causing challenges of security is lack of a joint army. The African Union have come up with a directive where every member contributes some armed forces to address insecurity in different areas. Apart from that, the union has a framework called African Peace and Security Architecture which provide ways of dealing with danger. For example, in the architecture, there is peace and security council which is constituted by fifteen members. The commission is in charge of intervening the cases of insecurity and initiate vibrant ways of addressing the issues.

Consequently, AU has established strong coordination with the United Nations in matters of security. In cases where there is insecurity, the union develops a joint task force between UN armies and its army to fulfill the mandate of restoring peace in the region in reference to Dembinski, Matthias, and Berenike Schott, (2014). Besides that, the African Union has gone ahead to partner with other international bodies. For example, it coordinates with European Union achieve peace operation mission that aims at maintaining security in the African region.

What makes cooperation more or less likely in Africa?

Murithi, (2017) says that, there several issues that threaten cooperation in Africa. The first main issue is a continued dependency on the developed countries such as Europe. The develop states take advantage of the situation, more resources that would have been used in strengthening the cooperation are carried away by the European countries. Secondly, the countries which form African Union are still members of other unions such as ECOWAS in reference to Makinda, Okumu & Mickler, (2015). They face divided loyalty in that all the unions need resources to run, but the country has little resources. It forces it to choose where to take the funds. Apart from the above issues, another thing is that there are leaders who do not embrace the AU objectives in their countries, for example, human rights.

On the other side of the coin, some issues promote cooperation in Africa. The first one is that the countries face common challenges hence the call for unity. For instance, the problem of insecurity, refugees, and disasters are standard in all the nations. Another important factor is likely to promote cooperation is that many African countries have started embracing democracy according to Kimenyi, Mwangi and Katrin Kuhlmann, (2012). Many leaders who were defying the call for collaboration are out of power. Almost all the states have identified the fruits that come with cooperation. Countries are developing; security challenges are addressed faster than they were before. It is predictable that the level of collaboration will rise higher in the future than today.

References:

Adebajo, Adekeye. (, 2015.) “The Curse of Berlin: Africa After the Cold War.” United Nations University, video. September 17

Dembinski, Matthias, and Berenike Schott. (June 2014) “Regional Security Arrangements as a Filter for Norm Diffusion: the African Union, the Euroopean Union and the Responsibility to Protect.” Cambridge Review Of International Affairs 27, no. 2, p. 362-380. EBSCOhost 

Kimenyi, Mwangi S., and Katrin Kuhlmann. (2012) “African Union: Challenges and Prospects for Regional Integration in Africa.” Journal Of Diplomacy & International Relations 13, no. 2, p. 7-27. EBSCOhost. 

Makinda, S. M., Okumu, F. W., & Mickler, D. (2015). The African Union: Addressing the challenges of peace, security, and governance. Routledge.

Murithi, T. (2017). The African Union: pan-Africanism, peacebuilding and development. Routledge.

Varin, Caroline.  (2016) “Regional Security And Cooperation: Chapter Five.” In Boko Haram and the War on Terror, Caroline Varin. New York: Praeger Publishers, p. 97-114.