African Peace Studies (Political Science focus)
African Peace Studies (Political Science focus) is a peer‑reviewed scholarly journal published under the Pan‑African Research Journals (PARJ) platform, advancing African‑centred and global research.
When Peacekeeping Governs Markets: UNMISS, Labour Absorption, and the Local Political Economy of Protection in South Sudan
UN peacekeeping missions are typically assessed in terms of security provision and mandate implementation, yet they also function as major economic and governance actors. In South Sudan, UNMISS operates not only as a protection force but as an employer, purchaser, infrastructure provider, and, at times, a practical competitor to state institutions. This study examines how peacekeeping-mediated political economy shapes political order from independence through the civil war period to recent mission restructuring, with comparative reference to MONUSCO and AMISOM/ATMIS. Drawing on critical peacekeeping studies, the local political economy of peace operations, and humanitarian economy analysis, the study combines budget and procurement analysis with labour market inquiry, interviews with mission personnel and local stakeholders, and cross-mission comparison. The findings show that peacekeeping economies are not neutral or temporary but generate durable effects by reshaping incentives, authority, and access to resources (Pouligny 2006; Whitworth 2004; Higate & Henry 2009; Jennings 2015). UNMISS influences wage structures, local markets, and service provision in ways that can both stabilise livelihoods and displace state functions. Variation across missions reflects differences in mandate scope, resource scale, and host-state capacity. The contribution lies in demonstrating how peacekeeping missions become embedded in domestic political economies, affecting governance outcomes beyond their formal mandates. It argues that more effective reform requires aligning mission design with local institutional development and addressing the economic and political effects of large-scale external presence (Carbonnier 2014; Bellamy & Williams 2013; UNMISS 2024; Cuddington & Langford 2017).
When Peacekeeping Governs Markets: UNMISS
Copyright (c) 2026 African Peace Studies (Political Science focus)
Offshore Predation: Illicit Financial Flows and Beneficial Ownership Opacity in Resource-Rich African States.
Resource predation in fragile states is often attributed to domestic corruption, yet much of it depends on transnational financial systems that enable wealth extraction to move across jurisdictions. In resource-rich African contexts, elite accumulation is sustained through offshore secrecy, complex corporate structures, and permissive legal environments that make illicit wealth both portable and difficult to trace. The concept of offshore predation captures how these global financial infrastructures interact with weak domestic governance to facilitate large-scale extraction. Situated within debates on the political economy of corruption and global financial governance, the manuscript examines how international systems enable and sustain resource diversion. Focusing on South Sudan and Angola, with comparative reference to Nigeria, the study addresses three interrelated questions: what legal and financial mechanisms—including transfer mispricing, shell company networks, offshore trusts, and correspondent banking relationships—enable the diversion of oil revenues into private accounts; how international financial centres such as London, Dubai, Delaware, and Luxembourg provide the legal, institutional, and professional infrastructure that sustains illicit financial flows, and what forms of responsibility they bear; and what the developmental consequences of these flows are in terms of foregone public investment, weakened fiscal capacity, and their interaction with aid dependence. Methodologically, the study combines financial investigative analysis using Global Financial Integrity data, leaked materials such as the Pandora Papers, Africa Confidential reporting, court records from UK and US anti-corruption proceedings, and corporate registry analysis. It further incorporates
Mandate Without Protection: UN Peacekeeping, Command Fragmentation, and the Politics of Non-Intervention in South Sudan
Civilian protection in UN peacekeeping often fails not because of mandate absence, but because mandates, command structures, and political incentives pull in conflicting directions. The concept of mandate without protection captures this gap between formal commitment and operational reality. Moving beyond a descriptive account, the manuscript examines the protection of civilians (POC) in UN peacekeeping, focusing on the interaction between mandate design, military capability, and the politics of non-intervention in South Sudan, situated within broader debates on African political order, state formation, and institutional design. Focusing on South Sudan, with comparative reference to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Bosnia, the study addresses three interrelated questions: how troop-contributing country caveats, national interests, and fragmented command structures within UNMISS undermine coordinated POC responses even when atrocities occur within operational range; what sequence of institutional failures produced the mission’s non-response to the July 2016 Terrain Hotel attack, and what this reveals about the gap between mandate, capability, and political will; and under what conditions UN Security Council dynamics—particularly the strategic and economic interests of P5 members—override protection commitments. Methodologically, the study combines archival analysis of UNMISS force disposition records, rules of engagement documentation, and internal after-action reports with interviews involving UNMISS military and civilian leadership. It further incorporates comparative analysis of MONUSCO’s failure in Kiwanja (2008) and UNPROFOR in Srebrenica (1995). The contribution lies in clarifying how formal protection commitments can be undermined by institutional fragment
From Guerrilla Administration to Fragile Statehood: Rebel Governance Legacies and the SPLMs Institutional Afterlife, 1983-2023
This article develops wartime repertoires as institutional blueprints as an analytical lens for understanding rebel governance and post-conflict state formation: the splm as a political organisation , 1983–2023. It argues that the governance routines created by insurgent movements during war become durable organisational repertoires that shape how post-conflict states tax, adjudicate, command, and distribute authority. Drawing on within-case process tracing drawing on splm archives, new sudan council of churches documentation, oral histories with nasir and torit faction commanders, and ethnographic fieldwork in juba, malakal , and yei ., the paper links the theoretical debates identified in rebel governance theory ( mampilly ; arjona ; kasfir ); historical institutionalism on path dependence; migdal's 'state-in-society' framework. argues that the governance repertoires developed by armed movements during insurgency are constitutive of not merely antecedent to post-conflict state institutions. to a comparative and historically grounded reading of South Sudan and the related cases assembled in the research design. The article advances three core claims. First, the SPLM/ As wartime practices of taxation, military command, local justice, and movement discipline supplied both personnel and institutional habits to the post-2005 state. Second, personalized command and factional brokerage, while effective for insurgent survival, translated into fragmented chains of accountability once embedded inside state ministries and security institutions. Third, rebel governance legacies can be adaptive when they routinize local service delivery and negotiation, but they become pathological when coercive extraction is normalised as the primary technique of rule. The contribution is twofold
This article develops mandate without protection as an analytical lens for understanding how civilian protection fails when mandates, command systems, and political incentives pull in different directions. Rather than treating the topic as a descriptive case note, the manuscript positions protection of civilians in un peacekeeping: mandate, capability, and the politics of non-intervention in south sudan within wider debates on African political order, state formation, and institutional design. The paper is anchored in South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Bosnia, and it uses the topic brief's theoretical architecture to ask three linked questions: how do troop-contributing country caveats, national interests, and command fragmentation within unmiss prevent a coordinated poc response even when civilian atrocities are occurring within range of deployed forces? What was the institutional failure sequence that produced UNMISS's non-response to the July 2016 Terrain Hotel attack and what does this case reveal about the systemic gap between POC mandate and mission capability and will? Under what conditions do UN Security Council political interests particularly P5 member state economic and strategic interests in South Sudan override the protection mandate? Methodologically, the article translates the proposed design into a publication-ready strategy built around archival analysis of unmiss force disposition records, roe documentation, and internal after-action reports; interviews with unmiss military and civilian leadership; comparative analysis with monusco's protection failure in kiwanja (2008) and unprofor in srebrenica (1995).. It argues that the central analytical payoff lies not only in better explanation of the South Sudanese or regional cases, but in
The African Media Barometer and Press Freedom Assessment
This article examines The African Media Barometer and Press Freedom Assessment with a focused emphasis on Algeria within the field of Political Science. It is structured as a action research study that organises the problem, the strongest verified scholarship, and the main analytical implications in a concise publication-ready format. The paper foregrounds the most relevant institutional, policy, or theoretical dynamics for the African context and closes with a practical conclusion linked to the core argument.
Copyright (c) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Local Revenue Mobilisation in Post-Conflict Counties
This article examines Local Revenue Mobilisation in Post-Conflict Counties: Property Taxes, Fees, and Accountability: A Mixed-Methods Inquiry with a focused emphasis on Kenya within the field of Political Science. It is structured as a action research study that organises the problem, the strongest verified scholarship, and the main analytical implications in a concise publication-ready format. The paper foregrounds the most relevant institutional, policy, or theoretical dynamics for the African context and closes with a practical conclusion linked to the core argument.
Copyright (c) 2026 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The Legitimacy of Revolutionary Violence in African Liberation Thought
This article examines The Legitimacy of Revolutionary Violence in African Liberation Thought: Towards Sustainable Development Goals with a focused emphasis on Egypt within the field of Political Science. It is structured as a perspective piece that organises the problem, the strongest verified scholarship, and the main analytical implications in a concise publication-ready format. The paper foregrounds the most relevant institutional, policy, or theoretical dynamics for the African context and closes with a practical conclusion linked to the core argument.
Copyright (c) 2024 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Offshore Predation: Illicit Financial Flows and Beneficial Ownership Opacity in Resource-Rich African States
This article develops offshore predation as an analytical lens for understanding illicit financial flows, offshore secrecy, and governance failure in resource-rich states. Rather than treating illicit financial flows, beneficial ownership opacity, and governance failure in resource-rich african states as a descriptive case, the manuscript argues that resource predation in fragile African states is sustained not only by domestic corruption but by a transnational infrastructure of shell firms, nominee ownership, correspondent banking, and permissive legal jurisdictions that makes elite extraction portable and difficult to trace. Anchored in Political economy of corruption (Rose-Ackerman; Wedeman); global financial governance (Palan; Shaxson ); developmental state theory critically. Develops a systematic account of the mechanisms through which oil revenues are siphoned from resource-rich African states through opacity in corporate ownership structures. the paper translates the topic brief into three linked questions: What are the specific legal-financial mechanisms mispriced transfer pricing, shell company networks, offshore trust structures, and correspondent banking relationships through which South Sudanese and Angolan oil revenues are transferred to elite private accounts? How do international financial centres London, Dubai, Delaware, Luxembourg provide the infrastructure enabling illicit financial flows from conflict-affected African states, and what is their moral and legal responsibility? What is the developmental cost of IFFs from sub-Saharan Africa in terms of foregone public investment, and how do these flows interact with aid dependence to produce a perverse political economy? Methodologically, it is organised around Financial investigative analysis combining G
Judicial Independence in Conflict-Affected Settings
This article examines Judicial Independence in Conflict-Affected Settings: Courts, Commanders, and Contested Authority with a focused emphasis on Ethiopia within the field of Political Science. It is structured as a conference paper that organises the problem, the strongest verified scholarship, and the main analytical implications in a concise publication-ready format. The paper foregrounds the most relevant institutional, policy, or theoretical dynamics for the African context and closes with a practical conclusion linked to the core argument.
Copyright (c) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Human Rights Diplomacy and African Resistance
This article examines Human Rights Diplomacy and African Resistance: Sovereignty Arguments and Counter-Narratives: Applied to the Greater Horn of Africa with a focused emphasis on Niger within the field of Political Science. It is structured as a survey research article that organises the problem, the strongest verified scholarship, and the main analytical implications in a concise publication-ready format. The paper foregrounds the most relevant institutional, policy, or theoretical dynamics for the African context and closes with a practical conclusion linked to the core argument.
Incumbent Advantage and Opposition Suppression in African Electoral Autocracies
This article examines Incumbent Advantage and Opposition Suppression in African Electoral Autocracies with a focused emphasis on Uganda within the field of Political Science. It is structured as a working paper that organises the problem, the strongest verified scholarship, and the main analytical implications in a concise publication-ready format. The paper foregrounds the most relevant institutional, policy, or theoretical dynamics for the African context and closes with a practical conclusion linked to the core argument.
This article examines Conflict Sensitive Journalism: Training, Practice, and Impact in South Sudan: Perspectives from Eastern Africa with a focused emphasis on South Sudan within the field of Political Science. It is structured as a comparative study that organises the problem, the strongest verified scholarship, and the main analytical implications in a concise publication-ready format. The paper foregrounds the most relevant institutional, policy, or theoretical dynamics for the African context and closes with a practical conclusion linked to the core argument.
This article examines The Role of Youth in Armed Mobilisation: Unemployment, Grievance, and Militia Recruitment: Community-Based Perspectives with a focused emphasis on Central African Republic within the field of Political Science. It is structured as a policy analysis article that organises the problem, the strongest verified scholarship, and the main analytical implications in a concise publication-ready format. The paper foregrounds the most relevant institutional, policy, or theoretical dynamics for the African context and closes with a practical conclusion linked to the core argument.
Recruitment Community-Based Perspectives
Media Development Aid and Press Freedom in Conflict-Affected States
This article examines Media Development Aid and Press Freedom in Conflict-Affected States: Decolonial Reflections with a focused emphasis on Lesotho within the field of Political Science. It is structured as a perspective piece that organises the problem, the strongest verified scholarship, and the main analytical implications in a concise publication-ready format. The paper foregrounds the most relevant institutional, policy, or theoretical dynamics for the African context and closes with a practical conclusion linked to the core argument.
Copyright (c) 2025 AJPolS-PeaceStud https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This article examines Urban Governance in African Capitals: Juba's Growth, Infrastructure Deficits, and Planning Failures: Fiscal Dimensions and Revenue Implications with a focused emphasis on Ghana within the field of Political Science. It is structured as a action research study that organises the problem, the strongest verified scholarship, and the main analytical implications in a concise publication-ready format. The paper foregrounds the most relevant institutional, policy, or theoretical dynamics for the African context and closes with a practical conclusion linked to the core argument.
Copyright (c) 2021 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
From Guerrilla Administration to Fragile Statehood
Copyright (c) 2024 AJPolS-PeaceStud https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This article examines The African Media Barometer and Press Freedom Assessment with a focused emphasis on Mauritius within the field of Political Science. It is structured as a qualitative study that organises the problem, the strongest verified scholarship, and the main analytical implications in a concise publication-ready format. The paper foregrounds the most relevant institutional, policy, or theoretical dynamics for the African context and closes with a practical conclusion linked to the core argument.
This article examines The Legitimacy of Revolutionary Violence in African Liberation Thought: Towards Sustainable Development Goals with a focused emphasis on Senegal within the field of Political Science. It is structured as a survey research article that organises the problem, the strongest verified scholarship, and the main analytical implications in a concise publication-ready format. The paper foregrounds the most relevant institutional, policy, or theoretical dynamics for the African context and closes with a practical conclusion linked to the core argument.
This article examines Media Development Aid and Press Freedom in Conflict-Affected States: Decolonial Reflections with a focused emphasis on Uganda within the field of Political Science. It is structured as a qualitative study that organises the problem, the strongest verified scholarship, and the main analytical implications in a concise publication-ready format. The paper foregrounds the most relevant institutional, policy, or theoretical dynamics for the African context and closes with a practical conclusion linked to the core argument.
Women in Post-Conflict Security Sector Reform
This article examines Women in Post-Conflict Security Sector Reform: Integration, Resistance, and Progress: A Mixed-Methods Inquiry with a focused emphasis on Guinea-Bissau within the field of Political Science. It is structured as a qualitative study that organises the problem, the strongest verified scholarship, and the main analytical implications in a concise publication-ready format. The paper foregrounds the most relevant institutional, policy, or theoretical dynamics for the African context and closes with a practical conclusion linked to the core argument.
This article examines Comparative Peace Agreements: Lessons from Mozambique, Liberia, and Sierra Leone for South Sudan: Gender, Power, and Structural Constraints with a focused emphasis on Sierra Leone within the field of Political Science. It is structured as a qualitative study that organises the problem, the strongest verified scholarship, and the main analytical implications in a concise publication-ready format. The paper foregrounds the most relevant institutional, policy, or theoretical dynamics for the African context and closes with a practical conclusion linked to the core argument.
This article examines Party System Development in Africa: Institutionalisation, Volatility, and Electoral Competition with a focused emphasis on Togo within the field of Political Science. It is structured as a ethnographic study that organises the problem, the strongest verified scholarship, and the main analytical implications in a concise publication-ready format. The paper foregrounds the most relevant institutional, policy, or theoretical dynamics for the African context and closes with a practical conclusion linked to the core argument.
This article examines The Hybrid Security Sector: Integration Failures, Parallel Chains of Command, and Civilian Harm: Challenges and Opportunities in the 2020s with a focused emphasis on Djibouti within the field of Political Science. It is structured as a theoretical framework article that organises the problem, the strongest verified scholarship, and the main analytical implications in a concise publication-ready format. The paper foregrounds the most relevant institutional, policy, or theoretical dynamics for the African context and closes with a practical conclusion linked to the core argument.
This article examines Urban Governance in African Capitals: Juba's Growth, Infrastructure Deficits, and Planning Failures: Fiscal Dimensions and Revenue Implications with a focused emphasis on Morocco within the field of Political Science. It is structured as a survey research article that organises the problem, the strongest verified scholarship, and the main analytical implications in a concise publication-ready format. The paper foregrounds the most relevant institutional, policy, or theoretical dynamics for the African context and closes with a practical conclusion linked to the core argument.
Urban Governance in African Capitals: Juba's Growth, Infrastructure Deficits, and Planning Failures: Fiscal Dimensions and Revenue Implications
This article examines Urban Governance in African Capitals: Juba's Growth, Infrastructure Deficits, and Planning Failures: Fiscal Dimensions and Revenue Implications with a focused emphasis on South Africa within the field of Political Science. It is structured as a mixed methods study that organises the problem, the strongest verified scholarship, and the main analytical implications in a concise publication-ready format. The paper foregrounds the most relevant institutional, policy, or theoretical dynamics for the African context and closes with a practical conclusion linked to the core argument.
The Separation of Powers in Practice: Executive Dominance in African Presidential Regimes: Political Economy Dimensions
This paper examines the practical operation of the separation of powers in Nigeria’s presidential system, arguing that constitutional design, political economy factors, and institutional legacies have fostered significant executive dominance. It analyses how control over fiscal resources, patronage networks, and security apparatuses enables the presidency to undermine legislative and judicial autonomy. The study employs a qualitative case study methodology, drawing on documentary analysis of budgetary processes, judicial rulings, and legislative-executive conflicts from 1999 to 2021. The findings reveal a cyclical pattern where economic governance structures centralise power, which in turn weakens accountability and perpetuates a political economy conducive to executive overreach. The discussion situates these dynamics within broader debates on democratic consolidation and institutional resilience in African presidential regimes.