South African Foreign Policy and African Drivers: Past Research
- SADC Security Integration
- War and Organised Crime
- Security and Terrorism in
- African Human Security Initiative
SADC Security Integration
SAIIA’s SADC Security Integration project was launched in January 2003 as a two-pronged, two-year project, consisting of a research programme and workshops. The research programme concentrated on the prospects and possibilities of security integration in the Southern African region, but did so by viewing the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation (OPDS) in a comparative perspective in order for SADC to benefit from the lessons learnt in other regions of the world.
Key stakeholders among governments and civil society groups in the SADC region were invited to the workshops to discuss how the ambitious goals of the OPDS Protocol could best be pursued in practice. The first workshop on SADC security integration, held at Jan Smuts House in June 2003, resulted in a SAIIA report as well as several academic articles. In 2004, increased attention focused on SADC’s contributions to the African Union’s evolving security architecture.
Publications from this project can be found on the central SAFPAD publications page.
War and Organised Crime
SAIIA’s War and Organised Crime project traced the links between conflicts and organised criminal networks. It explored possible policy options to reduce the impact organised criminal networks have both on ongoing conflicts as well as attempts at their resolution.
The project also explored how past conflicts have affected levels of crime, for example through the involvement of ex-combatants in criminal activity, and by so doing drew lessons for attempts at post-conflict peace-building in the region. Field research was conducted in
Publications from this project can be found on the central SAFPAD publications page.
Security and Terrorism in Africa
SAIIA’s Security and Terrorism in Africa project was launched in 2005 to examine how
Specific research involved country and regional case studies on the particular natures of Islam in the African context and the extent to which it is susceptible to external influence; terrorism and counter-terrorism activity in the Horn and Sahel regions; and the potential for engagement by African states in international counter-terrorism and non-proliferation policy in bridging the gap between the West and problematic states and regions, including Pakistan, North Korea, Syria and Iran. The project involved extensive liaison with African and foreign security specialists and policy-makers and the international academic community to develop a widening network of expertise on global security and terrorism issues.
Publications from this project can be found on the central SAFPAD publications page.
African Human Security Initiative
The African Human Security Initiative (AHSI) was a network of seven African non-governmental research organisations that conducted a series of ‘shadow peer reviews’ in the spirit of the New Partnership for
SAIIA’s work included a review of AU commitments to democracy and political governance. The first project results were released during the 2004 AU
The AHSI was funded by the UK Department for International Development and administered by the Institute for Security Studies in
Zimbabwe
SAIIA has been monitoring the political and economic developments in
President Robert Mugabe set 31 March 2005 as the date for key parliamentary elections. These elections were closely watched both on the continent and internationally to gauge whether
SAIIA has compiled some relevant documentation in this respect, including opinion editorials, reports and papers. These publications can be found on the central SAFPAD publications page.
Research on
