The first article is titled “The Great Lakes Region (GLR) Security Complex: Lessons for the African Solutions for Peace and Security (AfSol) Approach”. This paper applies the Regional Security Complex Theory to establish a pattern of security interdependence in order to discern lessons for the AfSol approach. The next article is “‘The Ambivalence of the Sacred’: Religion and Mediation in Northern Nigeria, 2000-2005”. This study is a qualitative analysis of the levels of success achieved by faith-based mediation in three outstanding conflicts – the Yelwa, the Jos and the Kaduna conflicts in Plateau and Kaduna States of Nigeria between 2001 and 2005. This analysis is anchored on the three levels of success, namely process or output level, outcome or short-term level, and impact or long-term level. The third article is “Fragility and the State: Current Debates and Historical Perspectives”. This paper examines fragile states from a historical and policy-focused context. It analyses both fragility and the state as complex phenomena with specific history and logic. International debates are introduced, from the ‘failed states’ narrative to more sophisticated frameworks on fragile contexts. The following article is titled “Agentic Governance in Africa: Managing the Tension between Dependence and Self-Reliance”. This paper demonstrates how more agency in governance is necessary for a careful management of the tension between dependence and self-reliance in 21st century Africa. It argues that the degree of dependence, vulnerability and self-reliance of Africa varies from one sector to another, with the implication that to manage the perceived tension, Africa needs to maximize obvious opportunities of self-reliance; accept its vulnerability, weakness and dependence; and leverage available opportunities of interdependence and partnership. The next article is titled “The Effectiveness of Peace-building Efforts and the Legitimacy of Actors: An Exegesis and Reflection of “The Local” in Myanmar and Nigeria”. This paper contributes to the growing debate within the peace-building literature on who and what constitutes “the local”. It explores the challenges associated with attempts to arrive at a universal framing for the particular groups that make up ‘the local’. The last article is titled “Gunning the Leviathans: Undying Presidencies, Term Limits, Changing Political Culture and the Mortification of Dire Political Transition in Africa”. The focal narrative in the literature on government and politics in Africa is sheathed with the credence that the region has been governed by tyrants, despotic regimes and political intrigues, abetting political transitions in belligerent awareness as a result. This paper attempts to make a significant departure from this account by interrogating the emerging political orders that deconstruct this primordial discourse on the African socio-political landscape.
