This handbook offers a critical assessment of the African agenda for conflict prevention
peacemaking peacekeeping and peacebuilding the challenges and opportunities facing Africa's
regional organisations in their efforts towards building sustainable peace on the continent
and the role of external actors including the United Nations Britain France and South Asian
troop-contributing countries. In so doing it revisits the late Ali Mazrui's concept of Pax
Africana calling on Africans to take responsibility for peace and security on their own
continent. The creation of the African Union in 2002 was an important step towards realising
this ambition and has led to the development of a new continental architecture for more robust
conflict management. But as the volume's authors show the quest for Pax Africana faces
challenges. Combining thematic analyses and case studies this book will be of interest to both
scholars and policymakers working on peace security and governance issues in Africa.
