Institutional Evolution in Africa and the 'Peacekeeping Institution'
In Hitoshi Nasu and Kim Rubenstein (eds) Legal Perspectives on Security Institutions, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2015), pp. 167-189
31 Pages Posted: 6 Jan 2016 Last revised: 14 Jan 2016
Date Written: January 4, 2016
Abstract
Peacekeeping has been the primary instrument of the United Nations (UN) in the pursuit of its objective to maintain international peace and security. It has evolved through the practice of UN organs – primarily the UN Security Council and also the UN General Assembly – in response to imperative security concerns of the time. This practice of peacekeeping operations has generated a set of doctrines such as consent, neutrality/impartiality and non-use of force except for self-defence, which, one may argue, has resulted in the emergence of a ‘peacekeeping institution’. Indeed, peacekeeping practices have been adopted by regional institutions including the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), South African Development Community (SADC), Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC), and more recently the African Union (AU). Particularly in Africa, peacekeeping practices can arguably be seen as instrumental to compensatory institutional evolution, which has arisen from the lack of institutional competence in situations where security concerns require institutional responses.
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