The Quest for Security After the Cold War: Africa's Security Concerns

Abstract

This article analyses the features of African countries in the field of security spotlighting its security threats from the Cold War era. The current regional security frameworks for promoting peace and stability are also examined. Since Africa is a new entrant into the international system, all African countries south of the Sahara typified by underdevelopment, increasing inequity in wealth/income distributions, social and ethno-religious conflicts, fragile political institutions/instability, social and moral decadence, neopatrimonialism, etc., ultimately, constitute the security quagmires of these societies. This study operationalised security in a wider context. It transcends the traditional military-political conception; it rather looks at security in multidimensional facets. Therefore, security is seen beyond the political order, which protects both individuals and the states against physical threats. It encompasses the socio-economic order that is central to the concept today. Regional security, by extension, is the summation of national security of nation-states and individuals in all particular region (against both internal and external threats) defined largely in political, economic, and social terms.