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

Abstract

The article attempts to provide an understanding of the phenomenon of conflict in the Horn of Africa. It identifies and dicusses the political factor as the root cause of the problem of peace and security in the subregion. 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 taht many of the works on the subject taht 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 resaerch on the conflict problematic must not be based on the horizontal and asymmetrical society-society relations; but rather on the asymmetrical and undemocartic state-society relations. Based on this, the conclusion of the article, as the scenarios in the conclusion clearly illustrate, is taht in conflict studies giving little or no attention to the role of state and its institutions as a amjor root cause to conflicts and instabilitieswithin 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 subregion.

Key words: conflict, conflict interlinkage, conflict resolution, peace, security, democracy, governance