With the embers of the Westgate Mall attack slowly cooling off, the Kenyan government’s policies have faced heavy scrutiny. As the global security environment changes and instances of terrorism increase throughout the East African region, countries within this region should progressively invest more resources into enhancing their capacities for security, both domestically and regionally, while encouraging greater cooperation and joint security efforts.
Al-Shabaab has begun to mobilize support by taking advantage of political and socio-economic vulnerabilities of the youth in Somalia's neighboring countries. After two and a half decades of counterproductive military interventions, peacebuilding processes may need to be reconsidered and instead focus on inclusive ideas that do not overlook the importance of the youth.
A great political problem on the African continent is the scourge of coups have taken place over the past half century, one being in Madagascar in 2009. To combat these coups, the African Union has put in place a firm policy commitment to reject coups and other unconstitutional changes of government. While at first glance, the AU's ban on coup legitimization is a decisive rejection of the military overthrow of governments and, thus, a compelling deterrent to future coups, it becomes clear upon further investigation that the ban itself is incompatible with mediation, which the AU invariably undertakes to restore constitutional order.
Why is building peace in a context such as the Congolese conflicts so hard? Despite many efforts, including the presence of the largest United Nations peacekeeping mission, international treaties, and peace talks, peacebuilding in eastern Congo has become a difficult task with a myriad of complexities. Havenith and Vogel seek to understand these challenges.
This essay examines the connection between elections and democracy, drawing on the case of Ghana. It evaluates the role played by civil society and the Ghanaian Electoral Commission (EC) before and during the election and analyzes the impact of the death of President Atta Mills on the electoral fortunes of his National Democratic Congress (NDC). The decision of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) to go to court to contest the outcome of the elections is also examined.
The Westgate siege affirms an observation made by many concerned Kenyans over the years, and more fervently since March: that there is a nexus between the high levels of insecurity in the country and the operational weaknesses of our security forces. This paper looks inward at the state of Kenya's security system and lessons that can be learned from the Westgate siege.
