Return of the generals? Global militarism in Africa from the Cold War to the present:
TL;DR: In this article, the authors trace the continuities and changes of global militarism in Africa from the Cold War to the present and argue that today's militarism is suffused with the values of security and securitization that gives it its contemporary political force.
Abstract: Militarism is always historically constructed and context specific and must therefore be studied at the intersection of the global and the local. This article does so by tracing the continuities and changes of global militarism in Africa from the Cold War to the present. It argues that contemporary global militarism on the continent differs from its predecessor in two crucial aspects. First, it is promoted by development actors as much as by military establishments and is more firmly embedded within discourses of development and humanitarianism. Second, contemporary militarism remains focused on political order and stability but it is more concerned with war and direct combat. The article probes this paradox through an engagement with the concepts of security and securitization. It argues that today’s militarism is suffused with the values of security and that it is precisely the logic of security and securitization that gives it its contemporary political force.
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: In critical security studies, the concept of MILITARISM has been a hot topic of discussion in many corners of the social science community as mentioned in this paper, especially in the area of critical security.
Abstract: Militarism – a mercurial, endlessly contested concept – is experiencing a renaissance of sorts in many corners of the social science community. In critical security studies, the concept’s purview h...
58 citations
TL;DR: The authors examine the relationship between security and militarism, both as analytical tools and as objects of analysis, and the possibilities of fruitful exchange between knowledges produced about these concepts or practices.
Abstract: While attention to security has grown exponentially over the last few decades, militarism – the preparation for and normalization and legitimation of war – has not received the widespread and sustained focus it warrants in mainstream or critical circles. Rather than stake a claim for one concept over the other, however, this article – and the special issue to which it serves as an introduction – asks how we are to understand the relationship between security and militarism, both as analytical tools and as objects of analysis. We examine, first, what analytical and political work militarism and security do as concepts, and how they can be mobilized methodologically; second, what the possibilities are of fruitful exchange between knowledges produced about these concepts or practices; and, third, what the limits are of militarism and security. In the process, we address the shifts in the world that international relations and its related subfields study; shifts in the institutional framing and materiality of...
49 citations
TL;DR: The authors assesses the concepts of militarism and militarization in relation to contemporary security interventions in the Sahel, a region increasingly understood through the prisms of violence, and assesses how these concepts can be used in the context of military intervention.
Abstract: This article assesses the concepts of militarism and militarization in relation to contemporary security interventions in the Sahel, a region increasingly understood through the prisms of violence,...
31 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that the current selective uses of securitization and militarism/militarization in "Africa" scholarship tend to recreate troublesome distinctions between developed and underdeveloped spaces within theory and methodology, and highlight the selective nature of such application and probe into the potential reasons for and effects of this selectiveness.
Abstract: Drawing on postcolonial theory, this article queries into the ways in which the concepts of militarism/militarization and securitization are applied to ‘African’ contexts. We highlight the selective nature of such application and probe into the potential reasons for and effects of this selectiveness, focusing on its signifying work. As we argue, the current selective uses of securitization and militarism/militarization in ‘Africa’ scholarship tend to recreate troublesome distinctions between ‘developed’ versus ‘underdeveloped’ spaces within theory and methodology. In particular, they contribute to the reproduction of familiar colonially scripted imagery of a passive and traditional ‘Africa’, ruled by crude force and somehow devoid of ‘liberal’ ideas and modes of governing. Yet we do not suggest simply discarding ‘selectiveness’ or believe that there are any other easy remedies to the tensions between universalism and particularism in theory application. Recognizing the ambivalent workings of colonial discourse, we rather contend that any attempts to trace the colonial into the present use of the concepts of securitization and militarism/militarization need to acknowledge the problematic nature of both discourses of ‘African’ Otherness and those of universalism and sameness.
29 citations
TL;DR: In late 2016, the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia signed a peace agreement to bring an end to an internal war in Colombia that had lasted more than 50 years as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: In late 2016, the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia signed a peace agreement to bring an end to an internal war in Colombia that had lasted more than 50 years. Dur...
21 citations
References
More filters
15 Dec 2004
TL;DR: Enloe and Zalewski as mentioned in this paper discuss the role of women in the politics of the globalized sneaker, and discuss the need for women to be more involved in the decision-making process of the military.
Abstract: Introduction: Being Curious about Our Lack of Feminist Curiosity Part 1. Sneakers, Silences, and Surprises 1. The Surprised Feminist 2. Margins, Silences, and Bottom Rungs: How to Overcome the Underestimation of Power in the Study of International Relations 3. The Globetrotting Sneaker 4. Daughters and Generals int he Politics of the Globalized Sneaker 5. Whom Do You Take Seriously? 6. Feminist Theorizing from Bananas to Maneuvers: A Conversation between Cynthia Enloe and Marysia Zalewski Part 2. Wars Are Never "Over There" 7. All the Men Are in the Militias, All the Women Are Victims: The Politics of Masculinity and Femininity in Nationalist Wars 8. Spoils of War 9. Masculinity as a Foreign Policy Issue 10. "What If They Gave a War ... ": A Conversation between Cynthia Enloe, Vivian Stromberg, and the Editors of Ms. Magazine 11. Sneak Attack: The Militarization of U.S. Culture 12. War-Planners Rely on Women: Thoughts from Tokyo 13. Feminists Keep Their Eyes on Militarized Masculinity: Wondering How Americans See Their Male Presidents 14. Becoming a Feminist: Cynthia Enloe in Conversation with Three British International Relations Scholars Part 3. Feminists after Wars--It's Not Over Til It's Over 15. Women after Wars: Puzzles and Warnings from Vietnam 16. Demilitarization--Or More of the Same? Feminist Questions to Ask in the Postwar Moment 17. A Feminist Map of the Blocks on the Road to Institutional Accountability 18. When Feminists Look at Masculinity and the Men Who Wage War: A Conversation between Cynthia Enloe and Carol Cohn 19. Updating the Gendered Empire: Where Are the Women in Occupied Afghanistan and Iraq? Part 4. Six Pieces for a Work in Progress: Playing Checkers with the Troops 20. War without White Hats 21. Playing Guns 22. Hitler Is a Jerk 23. Leaden Soldiers 24. Gurkhas Wear Wool 25. The Cigarette Notes Index
549 citations
TL;DR: Abrahamsen, R. (2005). Blair's Africa: The Politics of Securitization and Fear. Alternatives: Global, Local, Political as mentioned in this paper 30(1), pp.55-80
Abstract: Abrahamsen, R. (2005). Blair's Africa: The Politics of Securitization and Fear. Alternatives: Global, Local, Political. 30(1), pp.55-80 RAE2008
221 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a framework for mapping the multiple understandings that underlie specific articulations of the "security-development nexus" is proposed, revealing the ways in which meaning may shift in different (yet seemingly similar) discourses.
Abstract: It is now beyond doubt that attention to the ‘security—development nexus’ has become commonplace in national and global policymaking. However, how ‘the nexus’ is differently imbued with meaning and ultimately employed remains underexplored. In this article, we suggest a possible framework for mapping the multiple understandings that underlie specific articulations of ‘the nexus’ in order to reveal the ways in which meaning may shift in different (yet seemingly similar) discourses. To this end, we draw upon familiar stories about ‘development’ and ‘security’, and we offer a brief reading of ways in which ‘the nexus’ is articulated in policy texts. Ultimately, this framework may hint at what such articulations may imply for the policy agenda.
183 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that geo-political shifts since the end of the Cold War are a leading candidate to explain the changing frequency and character of warfare in sub-Saharan Africa.
Abstract: Contrary to common assumption, major forms of large-scale organized political violence in sub-Saharan Africa are declining in frequency and intensity, and the region is not uniquely prone to the onset of warfare. African civil wars in the late 2000s were about half as common compared to the mid-1990s. The character of warfare has also changed. Contemporary wars are typically small-scale, fought on state peripheries and sometimes across multiple states, and involve factionalized insurgents who typically cannot hold significant territory or capture state capitals. Episodes of large-scale mass killing of civilians are also on the decline. That said, other forms of political violence that receive less attention in the academic literature are increasing or persistent. These include electoral violence and violence over access to livelihood resources, such as land and water. While primarily descriptive, the article posits that geo-political shifts since the end of the Cold War are a leading candidate to explain the changing frequency and character of warfare in sub-Saharan Africa.
179 citations
TL;DR: The early studies of newly formed African armies and police establishments saw them as part of an institutional transfer of western paradigms of governance, along with the Westminster model and Gaullist presidentialism.
Abstract: The studies of African military establishments that appeared from the late 1960s, after the first wave of coups, were very much the products of their time. The theories of modernization and political development that were their starting point were the ideas of an epoch: that of decolonization, nation-building, internationalization of capital, consolidation of U.S. hegemony, and globalization of American social science. They are of interest now because aspects of that epoch are repeating themselves: in particular, the reassertion of U.S. and western hegemony, the return to free market orthodoxy, and a “third wave” of transitions to democracy (Huntington 1991). Three overlapping debates dominated the literature on the military in developing countries during the 1960s and 1970s. They revolved initially around the conditions of democracy and civilian control. They shifted to the role of the military in modernization or development as armies moved into politics, then focused on political order following deep hegemonic crises in developing countries themselves and in their relations with the West. Early studies of newly formed African armies and police establishments saw them as part of an institutional transfer of western paradigms of governance, along with the Westminster model and Gaullist presidentialism. Military professionalism was integral to the neocolonial enterprise of transferring power to elites, requiring accelerated training in metropolitan and local academies of African “Narcissuses in uniform” (First 1970, chap. 3).
142 citations