Previous page | New search |
The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here
Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Peacekeeping in a bad neighbourhood: the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in peace and security in West Africa |
Author: | Francis, David J. |
Year: | 2009 |
Periodical: | African Journal on Conflict Resolution (ISSN 1562-6997) |
Volume: | 9 |
Issue: | 3 |
Pages: | 87-116 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | West Africa |
Subjects: | ECOWAS peacekeeping operations regional security |
External link: | https://www.accord.org.za/ajcr-issues/%ef%bf%bcpeacekeeping-in-a-bad-neighbourhood/ |
Abstract: | Is there any role for regional organizations in the maintenance of international peace and security and if so, how effective are they? This article critically outlines the role and contribution of ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) to peace and security and examines the core factors that determine its effectiveness. To understand the imperatives for the expansion of the subregional economic cooperation entity into security regionalism, concomitant with the evolution of a regional peacekeeping and conflict management capability, the article starts with a political economy analysis of West Africa and explores how the West African subregion has emerged as a 'bad neighbourhood' in Africa and the theatre of violent intra-State conflicts. Building on this, the article examines the experience of Ecomog I, II, III and IV (ECOWAS Ceasefire Monitoring Group), the ECOWAS regional peacekeeping, peace support operators and conflict stabilization interventions in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau and Côte d'Ivoire. Key issues in evaluating ECOWAS effectiveness in regional peace and security issues are the geopolitics of West Africa and its constraints on the development and practice of common foreign and security policies; the leadership role of Nigeria; the role and contribution of extra-regional actors such as the former colonial powers and the UN; and the quality of leadership of both ECOWAS and Ecomog. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [ASC Leiden abstract] |