Call for Papers – Journal of African Peace and Security

Introduction

The maintenance of peace and security in Africa remains a critical challenge. In many parts of the continent, states and societies are grappling with extraordinary threats that undermine security at the levels of the state and the individual. Key among these are low intensity conflicts, which appear to be replacing outright civil wars as the most prevalent form of armed violence in Africa. These conflicts and the non-permissive environments they create place under immense stress the evolving continental security architecture designed to respond to the dynamics of state action. While states in parts of Africa remain an arena of conflict, others feature as the very object over which conflicts are being fought, raising fundamental questions about the basic nature of the African state.

There can be no doubt that many of the countries that were mired in prior existing conflicts are making the transition from war to peace. Yet, these transitions are in some cases taking place in the context of fragility with high risk of civil war recurrence. Although the magnitude of these challenges varies from country to country, they unquestionably combine to cast doubt over the achievement of the African Union’s (AU) target of ‘silencing the guns’, by 2020. What are the current dominant sources of threat to peace and security in Africa and how are they connected? How is the diffusion of low intensity conflicts shaping Africa’s security landscape? What can be done to silence the guns in Africa? What explains the failure of peacebuilding processes in Africa and how can they be addresses?

The Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) is calling for manuscripts that respond to these and similar questions for publication in the Maiden Issue of its Journal of African Peace and Security. This annual peer-reviewed journal is intended to serve as a forum for critical discourses around issues of African peace and security that are informed by theory, research and practice from diverse perspectives.

Topics/Themes

Submissions are cordially invited from interested scholars and practitioners on (but not limited to) the following broad topics or themes:

• Peace support operations (including regional and global peacekeeping partnerships);
• Conflict prevention, early warning and peacebuilding;
• DDR, SSR, and Transitional justice;
• African Peace and Security Architecture;
• Countering violent extremism and radicalization;
• Election-related violence;
• Good governance, democracy and the rule of law;
• Indigenous conflict management approaches;
• Natural resource governance;
• Negotiation and mediation;
• Transnational organized crimes;
• Maritime and cyber security;
• Climate change, water and food insecurity; and
• Gender, Peace and Security.

Authors will be informed of the decision on their manuscripts within five weeks of submission.

Submission Guidelines

• Word limit for each chapter: 5000
• Abstract word limit 200
• Referencing style: Harvard

Important Dates

• Manuscript submission: 20 October, 2017
• Final submission: One month after reviewed manuscripts are sent to authors.

Submission Checklist

All manuscripts should comply with the following guidelines:

• Papers are neither being considered for publication by another journal nor already published elsewhere;
• Manuscripts are written in English in Microsoft Word;
• Manuscripts are single-spaced, uses a 12-point font, Times New Roman.

Manuscripts should be sent to the Editors through the following email addresses:

Kwesi.Aning@kaiptc.org

Ferdinand.Danso@kaiptc.org

Each contributor will receive a copy of the edition in which their article appears. No financial payments are available.

Neither the Editorial Board nor the KAIPTC holds itself responsible for statements or opinions expressed in articles published in this journal.