Peacebuilding in the African Union: Law, Philosophy and Practice

by Abou Jeng

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781107015210
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	08/02/2012
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Dr Abou Jeng is a human rights lawyer and Research Fellow at the Centre for Human Rights in Practice, University of Warwick. His current research focuses on human rights and disaster risk reduction, constitutional governance, globalisation and refugee law.

Table of Contents

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?

Editorial Reviews

"This poignant narrative brings home the urgency of listening to the African voices of human suffering. Through a variety of perspectives, Dr Abou Jeng invites us all to re-think the impact that international law and global justice can have on human and social suffering in the face of some deeply troubling world orders."
- Dr. Upendra Baxi, Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Warwick



"This is a masterful and original tour de force of the unique normative and institutional frameworks of the African Union’s peace-building role in internal conflicts. Dr. Abou Jeng demonstrates why UN Security Council led efforts that seek to prop States up frequently fall short of the kind of restorative, corrective and preventive peace-building elements that characterize the African Union’s peace-building initiatives that begin from the ground-up rather than the other way around."
- James Gathii, Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship and Professor of International Commercial Law, Albany Law School



"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. The book fills a critical gap in our understanding."
- Lamin Sanneh, D. Willis James Professor of World Christianity, Professor of History, Professor of International and Area Studies, Yale University

From the Publisher