The first article on page 3 is titled: Electoral Mediation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho and Kenya: A Comparative Perspective. The article draws attention to various approaches used to deal with electoral disputes, which have become a permanent feature of many electoral processes on the continent. The case studies of the DRC, Lesotho and Kenya clearly show that the factors leading to these disputes are as varied as the ways of dealing with them. The article on page 11: Developing Security Structures in Europe: Lessons Learned from the African Peace and Security Architecture is focusing on the relationship between the AU and RECs regarding peace and security, best practices and lessons learned that can assist the EU in preventing identified flaws in its own system. Four specific issues are discussed in the remainder of this article as best practices and lessons learned. From the preliminary assessment presented in the article titled: Challenges of Liberal Peace and Statebuilding in Divided Societies, one can derive several policy recommendations relevant to European policymakers to limit known flaws in their proposed structures, and for them to incorporate the best practices of the APSA. The article: Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Can Stability Prevail? discusses the success and failures of the DDR programs to establish peace and security in the DRC. The article on page 33 is titled: The Women’s Situation Room in Africa: An Initiative for Peaceful and Inclusive Elections outlines the work, challenges and success of the WSR, and interrogates its role in preventing and managing violence during election periods and its link to conflict early warning and early response, and conflict resolution. On page 42 : Al Mahdi’s Case before the International Criminal Court: A Landmark Decision in the Protection of Cultural and Religious Sites by Frédéric Foka Taffo discusses the plea agreement of Al Mahdi and how this tool can be used in International Criminal Justice cases. The last article: The Colonial Legacy of Civil-military Relations and Democratic Stability in West Africa by Naila Salihu looks at how the colonial
legacy of the two major language blocs – French and English – have contributed to the post-independence experience in civil-military relations, and the overall effects on democratic
stability in West Africa. The article argues that colonialism had a telling influence on post-independence civil-military relations in West Africa. The different colonial policies of the
British and French contributed to the post-independence civil-military relations experience in West Africa.
