SPS conference provides latest insight on security in Africa
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The School of Social and Political Science (SPS) hosted a conference that provided new insights on security in Africa, focusing on the relationships between everyday actors and state-driven violence.
The event – the Centre of African Studies (CAS) and Centre for Security Research (CeSeR) Annual Conference - dealt with the security landscape in Africa, in light of a resurgence of old challenges throughout the continent, such as military coups.
More than 80 delegates travelled from throughout Africa, Europe and the US to attend the two-day event at the University of Edinburgh’s Chrystal Macmillan Building, the home of SPS, CAS and CeSeR.
Prominent keynote speakers included:
- Dr Comfort Ero, president and CEO of the International Crisis Group
- Professor Kristof Titeca from the University of Antwerp
- Professor Jana Krause from the University of Oslo
- Professor Gilbert Khadiagala from the University of Witwatersrand.
The conference centred on discussions around how security is reshaping the state-citizen relationship, how the international environment is influencing these processes and what the conceptual logics that underpin it all are. It covered discussion about the resurgence of military coups and other challenges, which have encouraged a shift in debates about security back towards elite struggles and away from the systems of order that continue to define how ordinary people experience, cooperate with and resist the state.
One of the conference highlights was a photo exhibition by SPS PhD student Camille Maubert on the women’s peace movement in Congo, documenting the work of women who foster peace in their communities.