The future of global peacebuilding: Africa (WP1552)

This meeting was the fourth and final in a series entitled African perspectives on peacebuilding held in partnership with the African Peacebuilding Network of the Social Science Research Council, New York and the African Leadership Centre, Nairobi, and supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Previous events have assessed evolving challenges, responses and new African thinking, the development of African approaches to peacebuilding in response to the changing dynamics of conflict and sustaining civil society engagement in peacebuilding.

In recent years, the world has seen significant global uncertainty and threats to global peace; be it an unforeseen by-product of government(al) policies, a shift in the geopolitical ‘status quo’, or unanticipated global phenomena, including the emergence and influence of new technologies and actors. Other factors impacting global peace and security include: rapid demographic changes; technological innovations; globalisation and local responses; and climate change. Furthermore, the emergence of ‘rising powers’ is redefining the governance of international peace and security, posing challenges to a global peace architecture that has prevailed for many decades.

Africa occupies an important place in current global responses to the changing nature of threats to international peace and security, and will remain an important actor in global peacebuilding in the future. This conference specifically explored Africa’s place and potential contributions to the future of global peacebuilding. It discussed the complexities embedded in ongoing changes in the world’s peace and security terrain and examined their interaction with, and impact on, conflict dynamics and peacebuilding in Africa, as well as the continent’s contribution to global conversations and actions on peacebuilding. Building on the discussions and findings of the past three meetings in this series, policymakers, practitioners, civil society actors and scholars documented and explored Africa’s contributions to peacebuilding as they inform actions and decision-making today, and are likely to in the future.

In doing so the conference drew on the evolution of these global trends, addressing  how they interact with, and impact conflict dynamics and peacebuilding in Africa, its broader ramifications, and explored the options with regard to Africa’s vision and role—along with its international partners in shaping the future of global peacebuilding.