ABSTRACT
Security around Africa has evolved, from the Second World War to the post-Cold War, as national, regional, continental and global economic, environmental, political, social and technological, let alone strategic contexts, changed. This chapter emphasizes contemporary threats and trends for both intra-and extra-continental state and non-state actors including: unlikely strategic alliances; resource curses/water wars/land grabs; regional conflicts and peace-building; informal and illegal trade; drugs/gangs/guns; gender; diasporic connections, such as transnational organized crime (TOC); and emerging cyber crime. It references debates over freedom from fear and want, the responsibility to protect norm (R2P), other global responses like Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and Kimberley Process (KP), the privatization of security and the Montreaux code for private security companies (PSCs), and the utility of the concept citizen security. Africa(s) present(s) lessons for analysis, policy and practise, both state and non-state, as well as local, regional and global. What can the study of African security contribute to disciplines like International Relations/Political Economy and Development and Security Studies?
