The liberal peace security regimen : a gramscian critique of its application in Africa

Date
2018
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa
Abstract
Current security regimens are grounded in the advancement of liberal peace. All inter-governmental organizations, most states and most donor agencies more or less accept as common sense the self-evident virtuosity and truth of the liberal peace project. However, there is a profound contradiction within this project in Africa in that while this security regimen might reflect the impulses of a neoliberal hegemony, the very basic foundations of a domestic hegemonic project are in the main wholly absent. Equally, the nature of underdevelopment and dependency in the continent continues to undermine even basic autonomous state formation. These disjunctures mean that there is a distinct contradiction in promoting the current dominant security regimen in post-conflict scenarios in Africa. Instead, the liberal peace needs to be understood as a transnational project aimed at opening up African spaces for continued foreign penetration and exploitation.
Description
CITATION: Taylor, I. 2017. The liberal peace security regimen : a gramscian critique of its application in Africa. Africa Development, 12(3):25-44.
The original publication is available at https://www.codesria.org
Keywords
Liberalism -- Africa, Peace-building, International relations, Security regimen -- Africa
Citation
Taylor, I. 2017. The liberal peace security regimen : a gramscian critique of its application in Africa. Africa Development, 12(3):25-44