MAJOR GLOBAL PEACE & SECURITY TRENDS: POLICY IMPLICATIONS FOR AFRICA (original) (raw)

Globalization, Conflict and Security in Africa 1 2 3 2

lobalization has brought issues that are related to struggle for power and resources, identity G contestation, border issues, religious fundamentalism, poverty, unemployment, exploitation and issues that are related to separatism/secession. These changes brought by globalization is changing the nature of conflicts and wars across Africa, from liberation struggle, to interstate, to intrastate and terrorism. This paper examined the globalization-Conflict synergy and their implications for security in Africa. It utilized qualitative and content analysis as methodology. The findings of the paper revealed that globalization operates like a double-edged sword in Africa, with both negative and positive impact on security. The negative impact of globalization in Africa is sophistication of conflict that has devastating effects on security and development. Globalization and conflict in that respect are two sides of a coin in Africa. The paper concluded that the implications of globalization in Africa are accompanied by multidimensional conflicts. This means that globalization has more negative than positive impact on security. Despite the fact that conflict is inevitable in human interactions, the nature of conflict influenced by globalization is intricate and precarious in its manifestations in Africa. The paper recommended among others that there is urgent needs to fight against corruption and deprivation; and has to be the top priority of most African leaders, because corruption can deprived many of their right and opportunity as citizens. Also, there is urgent need for solving the problem of unemployment as measure to curb security in most African states.

GLOBALIZATION IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD ORDER AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ON AFRICAN SECURITY AND ECONOMY

Globalization, understood in terms of a perfectly integrated global market, a global society, global civilization, interdependence, internationalization, universalization or liberalization process has no single fixed or determinate historical context, in all the historical stages of globalization processes: the age of discovering or classical globalization (1450 – 1850); the second wave that evidenced a major expansion of European empires (1850 – 1945) ; the period of emergence of American dominance and ideology of liberalism (1945-1960), and the present system that marked the intensification and triumph of American led capitalist values – liberalism and democracy (1960-present); the common feature inherent in them is that the South, particularly Africa has continued to be at the receiving end. This work attempts to examine the security threats of contemporary globalization to Africa. The study contends that, globalization, which is led by a new age of information technology, may rather pose much security threats to Africa than significant gains, considering the vulnerable institutional and socio economic systems of African societies or social formations.

Africa and the New Global Reality: Counting Gains Or Losses

International relations are undergoing profound changes with the entrance of other " powerful " actors on the scene. There is a widespread perception that power is shifting to the south. Much scholarly attention has been paid to what Goldman Sachs analyst, Jim O " Neill in 2001 referred to as the " BRIC-Brazil, Russia, India and China " (BRIC), which now include South Africa (BRICS). The rise and influence of these new actors in Africa cannot be overemphasized. Thus, this paper examines what Africa stands to gain or lose with the arrival of new powers such as China. The major questions that this paper seeks to answer are, how is Africa facing the new global reality? Are emerging powers entrance impacting on Africa negatively or positively? What does Africa stand to gain or lose from emerging powers, particularly China, in the continent?

Africa's Place and Influence in a Changing World

Report, 2019

SYNTHESIS REPORT The third edition of the African Peace and Security Annual Conference (APSACO) was held on June 18-19th 2019 under the theme “Africa's Place and Influence in a Changing World”. The two-day event, organized by Policy Center for the New South (PCNS)

Economic and political impact of Globalization in Africa

Globalization as the process of increase of economic, political, social and cultural relations across international boundaries aimed at the transcendental homogenization of political and socio-economic theory across the globe, impacts significantly on African states, particularly economically as well as politically. African politics is not independent and the foreign aid was one of the ways the intervention of African politics by invisible hand has taken place. Economically, Africa was connected to the global market earlier than other regions but in a disadvantageous way. These processes have impelled series of cumulative and conjectural crisis in the international division of labor and global distribution of economic and political power; thereby qualifying basic African feature to be poverty, diseases, squalor, and unemployment among other crisis of under development. This paper is aimed to examine both the economic and political impacts of globalization on Africa.

Africa, center stage of a changing reality

Revista IDEES, 2021

The African continent is in the midst of multiple transformations. The global context marked by the overlapping of crises (democratic, social and ecological) has embraced Africa as the main stage for all these changes, presenting different accents and characteristics in each region. Similarly, many of the major impacts on the international scene, such as the rise of the Asian continent and China, now occupying the centre of worldwide geopolitics, cannot be explained without the central role of the African region. Therefore, it could be argued that Africa today hosts a reciprocity of dynamics. On the one hand, the continent is one of the main world arenas assembling intense multipolar competition for geopolitical and geoeconomic interests. On the other hand, with its own particular features, Africa is a sounding board of the global crises faced by the ensemble of societies. Taking into consideration these two mechanisms at work, the African continent can no longer be conceived as a peripheral region in the framework of international relations, despite being the trend that has recurrently permeated interpretations and discourses on Africa. In the same vein, we have an obligation to understand and reflect on the role of the African continent in the post-pandemic global scenario. To do so, it is crucial to eschew the clichés and narratives responsible for simplifying the reality of Africa, which is key to comprehending the big picture of modernity and globalization.