Conflicts and Conflict Resolution in the Horn of Africa: Toward the Study of Regional Peace and Security

The article attempts to provide an understanding of the phenomenon of conflict in the Horn of Africa. It identifies and discusses the political factor as the root cause of the problem of peace and security in the sub region. The paper does not argue that thee is a gap of literature on the conflicts...

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Main Author: Tafesse Olika
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Addis Ababa University 2008-12-01
Series:Ethiopian Journal of the Social Sciences and Humanities
Subjects:
Online Access:http://10.90.104.77/index.php/EJSSH/article/view/6164
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author Tafesse Olika
author_facet Tafesse Olika
author_sort Tafesse Olika
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description The article attempts to provide an understanding of the phenomenon of conflict in the Horn of Africa. It identifies and discusses the political factor as the root cause of the problem of peace and security in the sub region. The paper does not argue that thee is a gap of literature on the conflicts in the Horn of Africa. The argument it is trying to present is that many of the works on the subject that the author has consulted and reviewed concentrate on conflict markers such as ethnicity, region, religion, etc. This way of understanding of the source of conflicts has the effect of obscuring the primacy of politics as a major root cause of the problem. The approach of academic research on the conflict problematic must not be based on the horizontal and asymmetrical society-society relations; but rather on the asymmetrical and undemocratic state-society relations. Based on this, the conclusion of the article, as the scenarios in the conclusion clearly illustrate, is that in conflict studies giving little or no attention to the role of state and its institutions as a a major root cause to conflicts and instabilities within and between states in the Horn of Africa would make it difficult to suggest practical/realistic copping strategies of dealing with the problem of peace and security in the sub region.
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spelling doaj.art-b994251d11b9455c9c03dc2dfd9145dd2023-06-22T05:33:52ZengAddis Ababa UniversityEthiopian Journal of the Social Sciences and Humanities1810-44872520-582X2008-12-0161-212410.4314/ejossah.v6i1-2.1Conflicts and Conflict Resolution in the Horn of Africa: Toward the Study of Regional Peace and SecurityTafesse Olika0Lecturer, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Addis Ababa University The article attempts to provide an understanding of the phenomenon of conflict in the Horn of Africa. It identifies and discusses the political factor as the root cause of the problem of peace and security in the sub region. The paper does not argue that thee is a gap of literature on the conflicts in the Horn of Africa. The argument it is trying to present is that many of the works on the subject that the author has consulted and reviewed concentrate on conflict markers such as ethnicity, region, religion, etc. This way of understanding of the source of conflicts has the effect of obscuring the primacy of politics as a major root cause of the problem. The approach of academic research on the conflict problematic must not be based on the horizontal and asymmetrical society-society relations; but rather on the asymmetrical and undemocratic state-society relations. Based on this, the conclusion of the article, as the scenarios in the conclusion clearly illustrate, is that in conflict studies giving little or no attention to the role of state and its institutions as a a major root cause to conflicts and instabilities within and between states in the Horn of Africa would make it difficult to suggest practical/realistic copping strategies of dealing with the problem of peace and security in the sub region.http://10.90.104.77/index.php/EJSSH/article/view/6164conflictconflict interlinkageconflict resolutiondemocracygovernancepeacesecurity
spellingShingle Tafesse Olika
Conflicts and Conflict Resolution in the Horn of Africa: Toward the Study of Regional Peace and Security
Ethiopian Journal of the Social Sciences and Humanities
conflict
conflict interlinkage
conflict resolution
democracy
governance
peace
security
title Conflicts and Conflict Resolution in the Horn of Africa: Toward the Study of Regional Peace and Security
title_full Conflicts and Conflict Resolution in the Horn of Africa: Toward the Study of Regional Peace and Security
title_fullStr Conflicts and Conflict Resolution in the Horn of Africa: Toward the Study of Regional Peace and Security
title_full_unstemmed Conflicts and Conflict Resolution in the Horn of Africa: Toward the Study of Regional Peace and Security
title_short Conflicts and Conflict Resolution in the Horn of Africa: Toward the Study of Regional Peace and Security
title_sort conflicts and conflict resolution in the horn of africa toward the study of regional peace and security
topic conflict
conflict interlinkage
conflict resolution
democracy
governance
peace
security
url http://10.90.104.77/index.php/EJSSH/article/view/6164
work_keys_str_mv AT tafesseolika conflictsandconflictresolutioninthehornofafricatowardthestudyofregionalpeaceandsecurity