Panel 39: The New African Peace and Security Architecture – Perspectives on Emerging Practice

With the transformation of the Organization of African Unity into the African Union in 2000, an ambitious plan was adopted to establish a new African peace and security architecture. In order to allow member states and the continental body to deal more efficiently with on-going as well as emerging violent conflicts, a new set of new institutions was established – comprising the Peace and Security Council, the Panel of the Wise, the Continental Early Warning System, the African Standby Force and the African Peace Fund. Privileging human security rather than regime security these new institutions were meant to collaborate closely with the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), other international partners and a variety of African institutions.

This set of two integrated panels aims to take stock of the implementation status of the above mentioned five pillars of the new peace and security architecture and its practical working. Papers are invited to look into the question of policy harmonization between the AU and the RECs; to investigate the negotiation of a new set of norms and policy orientations to put this architecture into practice; to research how the new architecture is linked to other institutions such as the APRM, NePAD or the PAP; and to analyze the differences of interests within the African Union Commission (AUC), between the AUC and AU member states, and between the AUC and the RECs. Case studies include the AU missions in Somalia and Sudan; the evolving policies on coup d’etats and other unconstitutional changes of government in Mauritania, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar and Niger; etc.