1st Edition

Supranational Institutions and Peacebuilding in Africa The African Union and Regional Economic Communities

Edited By Redie Bereketeab Copyright 2025
    236 Pages 4 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This book analyses the role of the African Union and regional economic communities in contributing to peacebuilding in Africa. Big and small conflicts rage across the African continent, and this book argues that the African Union and the five regional economic communities have the potential to greatly contribute to peace and peacebuilding In Africa.

    Looking across the African Union and the five regional economic communities (the AMU, ECCAS, ECOWAS, IGAD, and SADC), the book considers in detail the organizations’ programmes, engagement, endeavours, success and failure of activities of peacebuilding in their respective regions. Overall, the book argues that an institutionalised and formalised relationship between the African Union and the regional economic communities would not only be decisive for the prospects for peace in the region but would also serve to strengthen the continent’s role on the global stage through asserting its agency, owning its agenda, and designing its own solutions and mechanisms for addressing problems.

    Drawing together an international team of prominent experts, this book will be of interest to researchers, policymakers, NGOs, activists, and regional and international actors working on African politics, security, governance, and economics.

    Chapter One

    Introduction: Synthesising AU-RECs Linkages in the Context of Peacebuilding in Africa?

    Redie Bereketeab

     

    PART I: AU, RECs AND PEACEBUILDINGING IN AFRICA: THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL DISCUSSION 

     

    Chapter Two

    AU and RECs: An Alchemy of Theoretical and Conceptual Debases on Peacebuilding

    M A Mohamed Salih 

     

    Chapter Three

    Academic Knowledge Production on AU/RECs Peacebuilding

    Ulf Engel

     

    PART II: AMU AND PEACEBUILDING IN THE ARAB MAGHREB REGION

     

    Chapter Four

    The Arab Maghreb Union: An Illusory Dream?

    Yahia H. Zoubir

     

    Chapter Five 

    The Arab Maghreb Union Still Lagging Behind in Peacebuilding in Africa

    Laeed Zaghlami

     

     

    Part III: ECCAS AND PEACEBUILDING IN THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REGION

     

    Chapter Six

    Assessing ECCAS’s Peacebuilding Initiative in the Central African Sub-Region: From Where to Where

    Tazoacha Francis

     

    Chapter Seven

    ECCAS in Peacebuilding in Central Africa

    Paul Batibonak

     

    PART IV: ECOWAS AND PEACEBUILDING IN THE WEST AFRICAN REGION

     

    Chapter Eight

    ECOWAS and Peacebuilding in the West African Region

    Remi Ajibewa and Daniel Oduyingbo

     

    Chapter Nine

    Democracy as a Peacebuilding Tool in West Africa: In Search of Holistic ECOWAS Response to Coup Resurgence

    Ndubuisi Christian Ani 

     

    PART V: IGAD AND PEACEBUILDING IN THE GREATER HORN REGION

     

    Chapter Ten

    The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Peacebuilding in the Horn of Africa: Programmes, Opportunities, Challenges and Prospects

    Kizito Sabala 

     

    Chapter Eleven

    Peacebuilding in IGAD Region: Between Policy and Practice

    Aleu Garang

     

    PART VI: SADC AND PEACEBUILDING IN SOUTHERN AFRICAN REGION

     

    Chapter Twelve

    SADC and Peacebuilding in the Southern African Region

    J, Shola Omotola

     

    Chapter Thirteen

    Towards an Integrative Regional Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding Infrastructure in the SADC Region: A Policy Proposition

    Adane Ghebremeskel and Sheuneni Kurasha

     

    Biography

    Redie Bereketeab, PhD, is associate professor of sociology. Currently he works as senior researcher at the Nordica Africa Institute. He run a research project on conflict and state building in the Horn of Africa.  His latest publications include National Liberation Movements as Government in Africa (2019), Alternatives to Neoliberal Peacebuilding and Statebuilding in Africa (2021), Historical Sociology of Nation formation in the Horn of Africa (2023), Recent Developments in Peace and Security in the Horn of Africa (2023). His research interests expand across political sociology, development sociology, African studies, conflict, peacebuilding, regional integration, RECs, nation formation, state formation. ORCID: 0000-0002-4378-1893