Examining Kaldor’s new war thesis: Evidence from Central and West Africa

Résumé

This paper examines Kaldor’s New War Thesis and locates it in the context of Central and West Africa where a plethora of burgeoning evidence provides ground for its validation. Kaldor notes that New Wars, as she puts it, occur in the era of globalization. The core argument fronted by Kaldor is that New Wars are different from ‘Old Wars’. The paper is thus founded on this central locus and discussions advanced in here are crystalized around this distinction. Drawing evidence from countries located in West and Central Africa, the paper argues the case for the validity of this theory to the African context. It is also fair to point out that Kaldor’s New War Theory does not escape the anxious thrusts of criticism. In spite of this welcome critiques – it is quite evident that it is applicable to the African context and this also erases most of the common arguments that such theories are highly Western or foreign and thus have limited applicability to the African context. The paper provides one of the contemporary contextualization’s of this theory and aims to form a basis to build up more discussions on why Africa still reels from wars and conflicts and the new perspectives that are now applicable. Finally, it is hoped that this discussion provides more documentation and evidence that can support better policy, evidence-based decision making and advance regional peace and security in West and Central Africa and to the rest of the continent.

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