Toward a new peace and security agenda: contributions from Pan-Africanism

Abstract

This chapter contributes to this endeavor by outlining some of the theoretical developments in the approaches to conflict management and outlining the well-rehearsed critique of the dominant approaches. The chapter then teases out some of the Pan-African conceptualizations of peace and security and its import into the Organization of Africa Unity (OAU) and the AU. The AU's Peace and Security Architecture and peace processes are then analyzed using its stated goals of Pan-Africanism as a lens. The chapter argues that we should 'look back in order to look forward' and that we need to elaborate a reimagined gender sensitive Pan-African perspective that can inform conflict management on the continent and be the basis for a new global approach to conflict management.