African peacekeeping

This book advances two central arguments about African peacekeeping, defined as peacekeeping by Africans rather than in Africa. First, Jonathan Fisher and Nina Wilén argue that historical legacies and colonial experience have significantly shaped African peacekeeping. Second, the authors maintain that African peacekeeping is not an isolated activity but ‘a set of socio-political practices which are part of a broader, historical negotiation, expansion, re/structuring and re/inventi[ng] African state autonomy over time’ (p. 5). African peacekeeping makes potent cases for both arguments, drawing on the authors’ extensive primary research and a wide range of scholarship on African politics and history that is often left out of peacekeeping analyses. The case for situating African peacekeeping historically is made powerfully in the initial chapters of the book. Chapter one begins with the ‘conventional history’ of African peacekeeping, which focuses on post-independence institutions, such as the Organization of African Unity, regional economic communities and the African Union (AU). This way, the authors deftly unpack the post-Cold War increase in both peacekeeping in Africa and African peacekeeping. Moreover, the authors then bring the historical narrative back to the colonial era, making an original contribution to the literature. The chapter emphasizes how imperial policies towards raising and deploying colonial troops shaped the role and status of African militaries after independence. Chapter two highlights how experiences of anti-colonial struggle have underpinned the centrality of the armed forces in many African states. These trajectories provide critical context for contemporary African states’ policies towards (military) peacekeeping deployments. The rest of the book demonstrates that African peacekeeping is best understood as an evolving set of practices intertwined with African states’ domestic and international politics. Chapter two examines peacekeeping as a central strategy for regime maintenance, particularly in authoritarian states. Chapter three illustrates how peacekeeping presents an opportunity for African states to secure resources and increase their room for manoeuvre in international relations, including vis-à-vis more powerful states. The following two chapters look at peacekeeping as a vector of national, regional and continental identity construction, and as especially important for post-conflict states. To paraphrase the authors, therefore, this book is not primarily about how African actors ‘do’ peacekeeping but about what peacekeeping does in and for African states and international organizations. According to Fisher and Wilén, peacekeeping ‘has shaped, and continues to shape, constellations and configurations of power in Africa, at domestic, regional and international levels’ (p. 6). Making a general argument about African peacekeeping is a challenge given the vast variation in states’ participation in peacekeeping; their colonial experiences and post-independence trajectories; regime types; and foreign policy aims. The authors not only acknowledge this complexity but also explore it through well-chosen examples. For instance, case-studies of regime maintenance through peacekeeping in Uganda and Burundi are balanced with recognition of destabilizing peacekeeping experiences in west Africa. Rwanda's success in reshaping its identity from ‘peacekept’ to ‘peacekeeper’ is contrasted with the Democratic Republic of the Congo's failed effort to do so. In chapter six, Fischer and Wilén examine the power and constraints of AU bureaucrats, and illustrate the tension between African ‘ownership’ of peace operations and its financial dependence on outside actors. This adds to the authors’ explicit acknowledgment of the complexity and distinctiveness of African peacekeeping—the book's central premise. Overall, the book achieves a masterful balance of clarity and complexity, distilling major themes without sacrificing nuance, making it a rewarding read for both new and established scholars of peacekeeping and African politics. For readers unfamiliar with African peacekeeping, this book offers an excellent introduction, with a clear but nuanced argument supported by rich empirical evidence. At the end of each chapter, the book offers thematically organized suggestions for additional reading, which enhance its usefulness to those new to the subject-matter. For established scholars of African politics and peacekeeping, the authors offer a rare book-length discussion that brings together a wealth of insights in a coherent framework and underlines how integrally peacekeeping is connected to the domestic, regional and international politics of many African states. The book contributes to the ongoing scholarship on why states participate in peacekeeping, and in particular explains why (semi-)authoritarian African states have become so central to international peacekeeping. It also suggests how profoundly current trends of downsizing and reduced funding for peacekeeping may affect African states.

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