Post Westphalia World Order, Global Politicking and the Rise of Insurgency: The African Experience

• Published in: African Journal of Peace and Conflict Studies 2023-10, Vol.2023 (si1), p.221-240
• Main Authors: Inanemo, Anthony, Josephine, Thizwilondi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: East Asia; Government business enterprises; Insurgency; Iraq; Middle East; Natural resources; Politics; Power; Rebellions; South Sudan; Sub-Saharan Africa; Syria; World order
• ISSN: 2634-3657; 2634-3665
• DOI: 10.31920/2634-3665/2023/Sin1a11

Existing literature on insurgency as an international phenomenon have focused much on the Asian and Middle Eastern experiences, because rightly so, the phenomenon of insurgency, over the years, has been most prevalent in those regions. Nonetheless, recent events however suggest the need to beam the searchlight of the phenomenon as it relates to the African region. Relying on secondary sources, this study seeks to interrogate the effect of the flux in international politics on global insurgencies vis-a-vis the expanding role of non-sovereign entities, especially violent ones, and draw consequences for the state-centric, Westphalian international system. It achieves this aim by examining the manifestations of insurgencies across the globe, drawing inferences with its occurrence on the African continent, especially sub-Saharan Africa. This study argues that the increasing and active engagement of non-state entities, especially ones with insurgent origins in maintaining stability in the international system illustrates the extent of diffusion of power in contemporary international politics. Hence, the large number of these actors in the international system points at the continuing weakening of the state system of international politics and the emergence of a new, multipolar, non-state-centric, and power-diffused international system, different from the traditional Westphalian state model.