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The Palgrave Handbook of Disciplinary and Regional Approaches to Peace pp 299–311Cite as

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Peace in West Africa

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Abstract

The end of the Cold War witnessed many states in Africa experiencing military coups, attempted coups, civil strife and violent internal conflicts posing new challenges to the continent, with West Africa being among the most affected sub-regions. West Africa has proved to be one of the poorest and most unstable sub-regions in the world,1 and a major site and arena of some of the most brutal conflicts in the contemporary world. The instability and insecurity in the region have been attributed to challenges of poverty, human rights abuses, poor governance, political exclusion, endemic economic and political corruption, and weak statehood.

Keywords

  • United Nations
  • Niger Delta
  • Regional Perspective
  • Security Sector Reform
  • West African State

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Notes

  1. Adekeye Adebajo and Ismail Rashid, eds, West Africa’s Security Challenges: Building Peace in a Troubled Region (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2004).

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Authors
  1. Patrick Tom
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Research Professor, International Professor, Visiting Professor, Lecturer, Doctoral Candidate, University of Manchester, UK

    Oliver P. Richmond, Sandra Pogodda & Jasmin Ramović,  & 

  2. Research Professor, International Professor, Visiting Professor, Kyung Hee University, Korea

    Oliver P. Richmond

  3. Research Professor, International Professor, Visiting Professor, University of Tromso, Norway

    Oliver P. Richmond

Copyright information

© 2016 Patrick Tom

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Tom, P. (2016). Peace in West Africa. In: Richmond, O.P., Pogodda, S., Ramović, J. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Disciplinary and Regional Approaches to Peace. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-40761-0_23

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