Abstract:This article discusses the increasing use of private military companies (PMCs) in United States’ security policy in Africa, and examines this phenomenon in relation to the US’ various military training programmes on the continent. We argue that the increasing use of PMCs in US security policy has evolved due to two critical and mutually dependent developments; African state weakness and resource stringency on the one hand, and the US's overwhelming security commitments around the world, combined with military … Show more
“…The few scholars who have attempted to explain the privatisation of peacekeeping do so through different analytical lenses, and draw on a variety of intellectual tool kits, epistemological and methodological orientations. 65 The debate would be enriched by bringing in perspectives from other disciplines like confl ict/peace studies, sociology, criminology and psychology, which is not to say that the economic, political and legal discourses that analysts in the fi eld largely draw upon are not helpful. …”
Section: Towards An Intellectual Frameworkmentioning
“…The few scholars who have attempted to explain the privatisation of peacekeeping do so through different analytical lenses, and draw on a variety of intellectual tool kits, epistemological and methodological orientations. 65 The debate would be enriched by bringing in perspectives from other disciplines like confl ict/peace studies, sociology, criminology and psychology, which is not to say that the economic, political and legal discourses that analysts in the fi eld largely draw upon are not helpful. …”
Section: Towards An Intellectual Frameworkmentioning
“…Africans are very protective of their hard-won sovereignty, and they regard the establishment of AFRICOM as divisive and a threat to regional and continental unity. Based on their postcolonial experiences, they don’t trust the military as a partner in development, and fear mission creep for AFRICOM and the militarization and securitization of economic relations with the U.S. 6 The growing uses by the U.S. and other donor countries of private military companies that lack transparency and accountability give further cause for concern (see Aning, Jaye, & Atuobi 2008). Moreover, African critics point out, authoritarian African regimes are taking advantage of the U.S. antiterrorism crusade, as they did in the past with anticommunism, to crack down on domestic dissent and prodemocracy activists.…”
Section: Limits Of Hope and Structural Contexts Of Change And Continuitymentioning
The election of Barack Obama as the first African-descended president of the United States in 2008 was greeted with euphoria in the U.S. and around the world, including Africa. Little, however, changed in the substance of U.S.-Africa relations. This underscores the limits of the symbolic politics of race and presidential personalities in the face of the structural imperatives of U.S. power and foreign policy in which African interests remain marginal and subordinate to U.S. interests. The article explores the structural contexts of foreign policymaking in the United States and what might be expected from the second Obama administration.Résumé: L'élection en 2008 de Barack Obama comme premier président américain de descendance africaine a été accueillie avec euphorie aux États-Unis et dans le monde entier, y compris en Afrique. Presque rien cependant n'a changé dans les relations USA Afrique. Cette situation souligne les limites de la politique symbolique contre le racisme et du pouvoir des personnalités présidentielles face aux impératifs structurels du pouvoir américain de sa politique étrangère dans le contexte de laquelle les intérêts africains restent marginaux et secondaires aux intérêts améric-ains. Cet article explore les contextes structurels du façonnement de la politique
“…A key example can be found in Liberia, where the US contracted DynCorp International to restructure and rebuild the country's military sector (McFate, 2008). Similarly, in Nigeria, MPRI has been involved in an extensive US-funded project to professionalize the military forces (Aning et al, 2008). International private military actors are thus still actively involved on the African continent, and this in turn raises important questions about accountability, transparency and the relationship of these companies to both their home and host states.…”
Section: Mapping Security Privatization In Africamentioning
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