Africa: Facing Human Security Challenges in the 21st Century

Foreword

vii Foreword In the middle of the 1990s the concept of human security was introduced as a reflection of a general change of the stress from the military state-centric issues (assumed by the realist and neo-realist orthodoxism) to non-military issues. This new narrative consists in the transformation of the individual into the reference object of security, due to the fact that under the pressures of corporate globalization, the state is moved away (at least partially) from the epicenter of policy making. Hence, the concept of security is extended from the security of the nations to the security of the individuals and from the nation to the international system. It is extending by supplementing the military perspective with the political, economic and environmental ones and thus, the range of security can basically receive human dimensions. By the mechanisms and the normative principles of such a perspective, it has become possible to identify some important arguments that human security can be fundamental in the justification of the ethics of interventions and by by-passing the state to offer the ultimate argument for a theory (used to address the moral and legal aspects linked with the use of military force). As a result of rampaging globalization, a new concept is being elaborated in the international community at the beginning of the 21st century, that of “human security.” In part, this concept is a response to changing economic and political conditions often associated with “globalization.” These conditions have generated deepening disparities in wealth in many parts of the world; the economic and social dislocation of whole populations; the eruption of violence and terror in the name of ethnic, nationalistic, and religious identities and differences; and the trafficking of people (especially women and children), commodities (e.g., drugs and arms), and ideas and information across political and cultural borders. The questions one must ask are: How does all this affect Africa in the twenty-first century? And how prepared is the continent to face these challenges as well as those that will arise in the future? It viii is rather difficult nowadays to keep pace with advances in science and technology, including among others, in the areas of biotechnology and nanotechnology, and genetic engineering. The challenge that Africa is facing is not only that of understanding how new scientific discoveries may have an impact on our societies, but also that of how to become a “continent of science” itself. The rapidity of the pace of change in virtually all spheres of social life at the local, national, continental, and global levels make it difficult to identify the challenges that Africa will be facing in the coming century beyond a few decades. Science itself is changing as a result of changes occurring in nature and in society. Moreover, science and technology, far from being neutral, have become key players in the evolutions that occur in production systems, trade, and intercultural relations, as well as in research and the formulation of responses to environmental change. The ability of science to anticipate, read and interpret the processes of change has increased over the years. The ability of humanity to follow developments taking place in nature, and to capture the major trends taking place within society, is likely to increase as science itself develops. Therefore, the list of questions that can be considered as major challenges for the 21st century is likely to change over time. Africa in the 21st Century Africa has staggered into the 21st century with huge unresolved issues, such as poverty, rapid urbanization, the national question, regional integration, gender inequality, food insecurity, intractable violent conflicts, political fragmentation, and the fact that it occupies a subaltern position in the global community, and in global governance. The weight of the past is a major handicap for Africa. The effects of the slave trade, colonization and neo-colonialism that Africa has suffered from are still being felt, as they have each and together resulted in the suppression of freedoms, the violation of human rights and dignity of the peoples of the continent, as well as the looting of human, natural and intellectual resources and what the pan-Africanist historian Walter Rodney called the “underdevelopment” of Africa. Among the major disadvantages of ix the continent at the dawn of the twenty-first century are also the low level of education of many Africans, the lack of modern techniques of production, transport, etc., a fragmented...