Peace, crisis and conflict

‘Violent Extremism’ in the Lake Chad Basin. Understanding the Drivers of the Boko Haram Insurgency.

The Role of the Civilian Component in African Union Peace Operations

The role of civilians in African Union (AU) peace support operations (PSOs) is still not fully understood. As a result, civilian capacity development has not been well resourced in comparison with the military and police dimensions of the African Standby Force (ASF) and has only modestly developed since 2006. As at the end of 2016 the AU has deployed approximately 400 civilians across its PSOs in Burundi, the Central African Republic (CAR), Mali, Somalia and Sudan. The average size of the actual civilian component in each mission totalled approximately fifty people. The civilian components most commonly found in AU PSOs are Political Affairs, Human Rights and Protection, Public Information, Humanitarian Liaison, Safety and Security, Civil Affairs, Gender and Mission Support. Despite AU policies and PSO doctrine, the value of a multidimensional approach to PSOs, and the role that civilians perform in this larger context, is not widely recognised in the AU Commission, AU PSOs or among the AU’s key PSO partners. The AU has struggled to articulate clearly why it needs a multidimensional approach, what the function and contribution of the civilian components are, and how the civilians staff contribute to achieving the mandate of a particular mission. This will have to change if the AU is serious about undertaking comprehensive stabilisation operations.

Mali: A Political Economy Analysis

Strengthening the Peace and Governance Nexus within the African Union. Enhancing synergy between the African Governance Architecture (AGA) and the...

The vision of the African Union (AU) is to achieve “an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena”. The attainment of that vision hinges on three foundational imperatives: democratic governance, peace and security, and sustainable development. The focus of this report is on the interlinkages between democratic governance on the one hand and peace and security on the other. The report examines the two overarching mechanisms that were established by the AU to strengthen democratic governance and attain peace and security; namely the African Governance Architecture (AGA) and the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA).

Quasi-Professionals in the Organisation of Transnational Crisis Mapping

The recent explosion of increasingly sophisticated mobile information communications technologies (ICTs) has led to the creation of new and complex networks and relationships. The fastest growth and adoption of mobile technologies is now in the developing world and often among populations facing development and humanitarian challenges. The entrepreneurial utilization of technological advances in these populations, combined with dispersed online networks in the developed world, is shaping global governance and the response of international organizations and governments in various ways. In this chapter we explore the particular phenomenon of crisis mapping that has arisen in the past five years out of the confluence of various technological advances and its combination with populations facing crisis. Specifically, we seek to analyze how quasi-professional crisis mappers or “mapsters” are shaping humanitarian action as an evolving professional field.