Peacebuilding in the African Union
Law, Philosophy and Practice

An extensive analysis of the norms and legal institutions of the African Union and their relevance to Africa's quest for peace.

Abou Jeng (Author)

9781107538351, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 July 2015

352 pages
23 x 15.4 x 1.8 cm, 0.52 kg

'This study of the impact of international law on conflict and peace-making in the countries of Africa, and vice versa, is an important attempt at providing clarity on a crucial issue for modern Africa as well as for the emerging international order. The book builds on the theoretical foundations of national and international law to examine specific cases of application and practice. The result is a probing inquiry into the internal and external influences generating and constraining political and legal discourse internationally, and an engagement with issues of intervention in a volatile Africa. [This] book fills a critical gap in our understanding.' Lamin Sanneh, D. Willis James Professor of World Christianity, Yale University

Particularly in the context of internal conflicts, international law is frequently unable to create and sustain frameworks for peace in Africa. In Peacebuilding in the African Union, Abou Jeng explores the factors which have prevented such steps forward in the interaction between the international legal order and postcolonial Africa. In the first work of its kind, Jeng considers whether these limitations necessitate recasting the existing conceptual structure and whether the Constitutive Act of the African Union provides exactly this opportunity through its integrated peace and security framework. Through the case studies of Burundi and Somalia, Jeng examines the structures and philosophy of the African Union and assesses the capacity of its practices in peacemaking. In so doing, this book will be of great practical value to scholars and legal practitioners alike.

1. Towards an introduction
2. International law and the Third World
3. Violence and conflicts in Africa
4. International law responses to conflicts
5. The genesis of the African Union
6. Philosophy and structures of the African Union
7. The African Union's peacebuilding travails in Burundi
8. The African Union and peacebuilding in Somalia
9. Towards an African Union philosophy on peacebuilding?

Subject Areas: Human rights [JPVH], Politics & government [JP], African history [HBJH]