A call for innovative security strategies in the face of failing governance

Abstract

As peace and security practitioners and scholars we seldom harness the expectations that a new year will bring a fresh start for people caught up in war, other forms of violent conflict and pressures that cause insecurity and distress. However, we know from past experience that where people feel insecure, a critical mass of people still have the energy to find innovative solutions to improve the well-being of people. Also in Africa, many good people share their knowledge of the many spaces in Africa, in the firm belief that wise leaders and other decision makers would find solutions to problems. In this edition, the authors illustrate in an exceptional way some of the efforts that are already bearing fruit towards security for all who dwell in the continent of Africa. An example of such an effort with innovative solutions is the work of Albert K. DomsonLindsay on ‘Mozambique’s Security Challenges’, who offers a critical security perspective to advance the view of a balanced or broader approach to security that goes beyond military response towards addressing the fundamental causes of a conflict. In this regard the author argues that poor governance, characterised by corruption, political patronage, marginalisation of minority groups, centralisation of power and exclusionary practices, under the banner of the Mozambican government, are the major sources of insecurity in the country. John Ishiyama in his article ‘Ethnic versus National Identity in Ethiopia’ reminds us about another cause of insecurity in Africa when he asserts that for many people in a country such as Ethiopia, ethnic identity is more important than national identity, posing a challenge to national identity. Furthermore, Felix Kumah-Abiwu and Francis Sibanda point out in their article on ‘Global War on Terror’ (GWOT), that some African governments such as Kenya and Uganda, continue to benefit from securitised development characterised by underlying contradictions involving the fight against terrorism. However, it is through the securitisation of COVID-19 in Africa, as illustrated by Hamdy Hassan, that many African governments have exploited this pandemic as a deadly threat to state and society to justify unprecedented precautionary measures restricting the freedoms of people. He predicts that the impact of securitisation of COVID-19 on African societies by interventionist states will have extensive socio-political implications in the medium and long term. In his article on ‘The Securitisation of COVID-19 and Authoritarian Politics in Zimbabwe’, Tompson Makahamadze uses Zimbabwe as an example of COVID-19 securitisation. He found that it assisted the ZANU-PF government to consolidate power through measures to contain the coronavirus disproportionate to the threat and followed political party agenda to limit the political freedoms of the opposition coalition. Timothy Donais offers one of the innovative solutions in his article ‘Protection through Peacebuilding in South Sudan’, explaining how the constructive and lasting contribution of UNMISS to protect vulnerable civilians, focussing on the protection of civilian (PoC) sites amidst the exclusive nature of the current peace process, supporting ‘bottom-up’ conflict resolution processes to interact with ‘top-down dynamics’. The vital importance of the ‘bottom-up’