Since the end of the Cold War "peace operations," conducted by a variety of international actors such as UN, EU, NATO, AU, have become a strategic pillar of international peace and security policy. More than 160,000 international military, police, and civilians are presently deployed in more than two dozen missions worldwide, most of them conducted by the UN. However, these missions are struggling with enormous difficulties. There is confusion regarding the use of force and the proper application of basic principles like "impartiality" and "consent." The popular demand for better "protection of civilians" has exacerbated this problem and profoundly troubles most missions. Last but not least, there is increasing skepticism regarding the effectiveness of "post-conflict peacebuilding" - a precondition for missions to exit successfully. The course will review these and other basic issues by exploring the development of peace operations from the deployment of the first UN-Bluehelmets in 1948 to the present.

The number of violent conflicts in Sub Saharan Africa has been worryingly high in recent decades. The multitude of people getting killed, wounded, displaced or forced to flee as well as the level of destruction of infrastructure is unacceptable. Explanations for this state of affairs abound, like “state-failure, failure of development and democratization, the inherent antagonistic dynamic of Africa´s ethnic-tribal diversity, the problematic heritage of colonial rule” etc.. However, they have not led to a significant improvement of conflict prevention and solution in Africa. Obviously, these explanations do not sufficiently reflect the complexity and diversity of conditions in Africa.

In the class, therefore, we will take a fresh look at state building governance, democratization as well as ethnic diversity etc. and how they have been managed by African regimes. First, we will analyze and discuss the challenges African leaders faced the day after independence. Which choices did they have to overcome the problematic heritage of colonialism and to ensure stability, unity and peace in the highly fragmented countries? In the 2nd part we will turn to selected case studies and discuss, based on presentations by students, the root causes and dynamics of conflict in countries reflecting the enormous diversity of the continent in terms of regions, colonial past, ethnic-religious composition, regime types, external influence as well as the presence or absence of mineral wealth. This will help us to get a much more sophisticated and realistic insight into the state and development of present African affairs.