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State of Africa – Parameters and Legacies of Governance 51 PART 1 Local and National Dimensions Introduction Sub-Saharan Africa appears to be the most endangered region in the world. This is partly the result of the overall poor performance of African countries in key indices of development and the numerous challenges that threaten its development and stability. A large number of the civil wars in the world after the end of the Cold War occurred in Africa. Many states in the continent appear in the list of failed and failing states. These developments and their devastating consequences tend to cloud the achievements of the continent in economic growth, democratic development and regional integration in the last decade. Indeed, there are serious grounds to worry about the future of the continent, and the capacity of existing organisations and structures to provide a conducive and secure environment for the pursuit of happiness by individual Africans at both national and regional levels. The complex and diverse threats to the peace, stability and growth of African states and of the individuals that constitute their citizenry have generated concern about human security in Africa. This concern is reÁected not only in the attempt by scholars to understand the nature of the security problems besieging Africa, but also in the emergence of several organisations dedicated to practically addressing the elements and factors implicated in the security quagmire. This chapter examines the concept of human security in Africa. It identiÀes the elements and dimensions of human security. It further traces the trajectories of developments in the essential factors of human security across the continent, paying attention to national, regional and global dimensions. It identiÀes key issues to be addressed and offers suggestions. What is human security? The traditional view of security emphasises military defence. The militaristic conception of national security is often state-centric and concerned largely with protecting the territorial integrity of the state system against internal CHAPTER 4 Human Security in Africa Remi Aiyede 52 Africa Institute of South Africa PART 1 Local and National Dimensions Human Security in Africa violence and external aggression. Owing to its limitation in the face of new threats, recent engagements with the security question have preferred the concept of human security. This is largely a reÁection of the immediate postCold War world that witnessed a decline in international war and a rise in civil war. Even the rise in civil wars was reversed in the 1990s, recording a dramatic decline in these conÁicts.1 Since 11 September 2001 when terrorists attacked the United States, it has become generally agreed that contemporary threats to national security are no longer located in the context of inter-state relations. Terrorists are not state actors, even though failed or failing states may provide a fertile ground for terrorist activities. The 2002 US National Security Strategy observes that ‘poverty does not make poor people into terrorists and murderers. Yet poverty, weak institutions, and corruption can make states vulnerable to terrorist networks and drug cartels within their borders.’2 In a similar vein, Cilliers observed that state security, in most of Africa, is not faced by conventional armed attack by other countries, ‘but by more insidious measures many of which Áow from the very weakness of the state and its absence of control over its territory’.3 The concept of human security was Àrst used by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to refer to: … safety for people from the both violent and non-violent threats. It is a condition of state of being characterised by freedom from pervasive threats to people’s rights, their safety or even their lives. From a foreign policy perspective , human security is perhaps best understood as a shift in the perspective or orientation. It is an alternative way of seeing the world, taking people as its point of reference, rather than focusing exclusively on the security of territory or government. Like other security concepts – national security, economic security, food security – it is about protection. Human security thus entails taking preventive measures to reduce vulnerabilities to threats to freedom, safety and livelihoods. It is about minimizing risks and taking remedial action where preventive measures fail.4 The Commission on Human Security notes in its maiden report that human security is a concept that combines ‘human protection and development and interconnects peace, security and sustainable development’.5 It emphasised that human security should not focus on macro-state level but also at community and individual level. The...

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