African Security and the African Command: Viewpoints on the US Role in Africa

by Terry Buss, Joseph Adjaye (Editor), Donald Goldstein (Editor), Louis Picard (Editor)

Overview

After the end of the Cold War and a failed mission in Somalia, the US decided to wash its hands of major military operations in Africa. Within the past few years, however, strategic interests in the region have grown, based largely on the threat of international terrorist group activities there. In 2007, the Bush Administration created a new military presence in Africa, AFRICOM (United States Africa Command), professed to be based not on occupying military or fixed bases, but rather on capacity building for and collaboration with African security forces.

Some see AFRICOM as the answer to an African security system crippled by a lack of resources, widespread politicization and institutional weakness. Others claim the program is nothing more than a characteristic attempt by the US to secure its own interests in the region without regard to the actual needs of Africans. A variety of viewpoints on the debate, both from the US and Africa, come together in this collection to examine the objectives and activities of AFRICOM. The result provides the reader with a well-rounded picture of longstanding security challenges in Africa and what might be done to address them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781565494138
Publisher:	Kumarian Press, Inc.
Publication date:	07/28/2011
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Terry Buss is distinguished professor of public policy at the Heinz College of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University, Adelaide, Australia.

Louis Picard is Professor in the Division of International Development, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh.

Joseph Adjaye is Professor of Africana Studies, History and Public and International Affairs and Director of the African Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh. Professor Adjaye specializes in African and Diasporan affairs, history and cultures. He is a recipient of numerous grants and awards including Fulbright awards and the NEH, and is the author of dozens of articles and several books on Africa and the Caribbean, including the award-winning Diplomacy and Diplomats in 19th Century Asante. Adjaye has given over 400 invited lectures and presentations on campuses and in cities across the US and around the world.

Donald Goldstein is Professor of International Affairs and Interim Director of the Mathew B. Ridgeway Center for International Security in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh. His areas of study include military history, public administration, political science, arms control, national interest and national security, theory and practice of international affairs, foreign policy process, international relations, administrative theory. He is the author of many books on the Second World War, Korea and related areas of military history.

Table of Contents

Foreword—Jerry Lanier Preface—Don Goldstein and Phil Williams Introduction —Louis A. Picard and Terry F. Buss

Part 1 The African Command: An Overview
1 African Security Challenges and AFRICOM: An Overview Elisabeth Feleke, Louis A. Picard, and Terry F. Buss
2 Assessing the AFRICOM Debates: The Three Ds as a Policy Framework Lawrence J. Korb

Part 2 The Command Debate
3 AFRICOM’s Strategic Assumptions J. Peter Pham
4 AFRICOM: A View from Below: What Security? Whose Security?
Joseph K. Adjaye
5 AFRICOM: African Concerns and Criticism Mathurin Houngnikpo

Part 3 Trade, Energy, and Commerce
6 Energy Security and Global Competition in Africa Assis Malaquias
7 China in Africa: An AFRICOM Issue?
Raymond Gilpin
8 AFRICOM and the Private Sector Alison Barbieri and Doug Brooks

Part 4 African Security and Counterterrorism
9 AFRICOM and the Horn of Africa: Toward Terms of Partnership John W. Harbeson
10 Small Arms and Big Trouble Mathurin Houngnikpo
11 Al-Qaeda in Africa: The Threat and Response Terry F. Buss, Nathaniel J. Buss, and Louis A. Picard

Part 5 Future Prospects and Problems
12 Changes in US Policy on Africa in the Obama Administration: What Will It Mean for AFRICOM?
Steve McDonald
13 What AFRICOM Says about US Foreign Policy Taylor B. Seybolt

Contributors Abbreviations Selected Bibliography Index