African solutions to African problems? The AU,R2P and Côte d'Ivoire

The African continent is inextricably linked to the development of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) norm and the latter's ethical interpretation of the duties associated with state sovereignty. With the African Union (AU) having institutionalised R2P in its legal-institutional foundation of 2000, the stage seemed set for the new African Peace and Security Architecture to demonstrate the continent's ramped-up interventionist approach to security. One of the first cases that presented an opportunity to do so was the humanitarian crisis that erupted after the 2010 elections in Côte d'Ivoire. As the crisis unfolded, however, it became clear that the AU was not only unable to operationalise its institutionalised R2P mechanisms, but indeed reluctant to invoke R2P explicitly. This raises serious concerns about the AU's willingness to intervene in its member states when humanitarian atrocities are perpetrated by governments against their own people, and throws into serious doubt the AU's promise to provide ‘African solutions to African problems’.     

Population prospects for Sub-Saharan Africa: determinants,consequences and policy

Population projections for nine Sub-Saharan African countries (excluding southern Africa) are reviewed for the period to the year 2020. Consideration is given to the determinants of fertility and to the consequences of rapid population growth. Suggestions for population policies that will resolve population-related development problems are discussed.     

REDD+ and the global climate policy negotiating regimes: Challenges and opportunities for Africa

Prior to developments in Copenhagen in 2009 and Cancun in 2010, global climate policy negotiations seldom culminated in concrete decisions concerning ways in which Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) could be linked to sustainable development and carbon markets in developing countries, such as those in some parts of Africa.That changed with the expansion of the REDD initiative, to REDD+. Key arguments in the discussions have concerned contested methodologies for measuring, reporting and verifying carbon stocks; ensuring adequate technology transfer; and rectifying the shortage of local experts to deal with REDD+. However, there has been no contestation on the fact that REDD+ creates financial value for carbon stored in forests, an aspect that would encourage developing countries to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation of forested lands and to invest in low-carbon growth paths. This article sheds light on how REDD+ has developed in global climate negotiations and how African governments have and should engage with REDD+. The conclusion is that since the Bali Action Plan of 2007, there has been significant progress in creating enabling global architecture with regard to REDD+, and African governments should now grasp the opportunities offered by REDD+ while advocating for a fair, legally binding and ethical arrangement to engage over the forests which are so key to many of their economies.     

The foreign policy and diplomatic attributes of a developmental state: South Africa as case study

With South Africa having declared itself a developmental state, this paper posits that if a developmental state is one that drives development, then the foreign policy of such a state should pursue development as one of its most important goals. Similarly the diplomatic corps of such a state should prioritise economic, commercial, para- and public diplomacy as drivers of diplomacy. In answering the question, ‘What should be the foreign policy and diplomatic attributes of a developmental state?’, the authors, through an exploratory approach, seek to analyse how well the state has fared in achieving this objective. To be a successful developmental state, a strategic capacity should exist and a clear strategic conception of the state's national interest should be formulated. Old paradigms about the role and functions of the diplomatic corps are challenged and a meritocratic diplomatic corps is strongly advocated to support the state's declared developmental goals.     

South Africa and Namibia: Aspects of a relationship,historical and contemporary

South Africa occupied Namibia for 75 years. After that occupation ended in 1990, numerous ties between the two countries continued to exist and their economies are still intertwined more than 25 years later. In both countries the liberation movements that fought apartheid and then came to power are still in power. This might suggest that the relationship between the two countries would be a particularly close one. When the leaders of the two countries meet, as they regularly do, they speak of fraternal relations and point to ways in which the two countries are working together to enhance co-operation and regional integration. However, the relationship is a very unequal one, and the small state of Namibia retains suspicions of the regional hegemon, suspicions that have a long history. Areas of tension between the two states therefore remain. This paper considers aspects of their bilateral relations, within the multilateral contexts of the Southern African Customs Union and the Southern African Development Community.     

Production networks,economic integration and the services sector: Implications for regional trade agreements in southern Africa

Debate on an appropriate framework for economic integration in southern Africa has hitherto focused largely on matters relating to trade in final goods, with little analysis of the potential benefits of production sharing and fragmented trade, or of challenges related to the accompanying role of the services sector. The first goal of this article is thus to explore the possible benefits for the development of specialisation and trade expansion related to the international fragmentation of production, and whether such benefits may be better harnessed by southern African countries in a context of regional integration. Secondly, the critical role of the services sector in production-sharing arrangements leads to questions about developing country services sectors and regional versus multilateral services liberalisation. The article therefore considers the importance of the services sector in the fragmentation context, and the growing debates surrounding services aspects of developing country regional trade agreements. It is argued that while there may be a case for the promotion of production-sharing arrangements in regional trade agreements in southern Africa, key constraints that continue to hinder the region's trade and development agenda remain the conflicting rules of origin in economic arrangements with overlapping membership, and non-tariff barriers to trade, particularly intra-regional transport costs.     

In search of real justice for Africa and Africans,and her/their descendants in a world of justice,injustices and impunity

Abstract

The quest for justice by Africans and peoples of African descent, wherever they may be in the world, is arguably one of the most daunting mental, psychological, moral, legal and material challenges facing humanity in general, and the peoples of Africa in particular. It is a question of whether African peoples demand justice for the wrongs committed against Africa and its peoples over the last 500 years, or whether Africa and African peoples accept complicity in the global impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators of those injustices, and by doing so diminish the significance of contemporary enthusiasm for global justice. Centralising the question of impunity to date for horrendous crimes, gross human and peoples’ rights violations and other injustices against Africa and Africans is not meant to distract Africans in Africa and the diaspora from the quest, in the 21^st century, for a new Africa that we have a historical responsibility to build and, by doing so, to ensure that the past is not repeated. Acknowledging the wrongs of the past and making symbolic reparative actions for those wrongs are essential for ensuring that the pursuit for a better world of justice is not built on top of underlying sinkholes and on the waste dumps of past injustices. Critical breakthroughs, such as the commitment enshrined in the Constitutive Act of the African Union (2000), on crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide and the prohibition of unconstitutional change of government, must be vigorously pursued to their logical conclusion. To do so requires an understanding of where Africans, in their relationship with peoples in the rest of the world, are coming from. Smaller parts of the world have experienced similar heinous injustices with impunity, and Africa's pursuit of real justice also applies to those states and their peoples. Corrective or reparative justice is needed to clear the path for the meaningful and honest promotion of real global justice in the making of the future. It is imperative that the making of the African Renaissance confront real global justice for the sake of the past, the present and the future.