In chapter 1, the academic Paul Williams proposes a framework to evaluate the PSC’s performance based on four inter-related categories, namely relevance, productivity, effi ciency and appropriateness. Williams focuses on three main di-mensions of the PSC’s work, including its collective interventions; the content of its offi cial statements and communiqués; and its working methods. This chapter notes that the PSC has served as a central pillar of APSA, and it can be described as a politically relevant, productive and generally effi cient and appropriate insti-tution. However, Williams argues that African governments need to demonstrate
the political will to provide the PSC and APSA with the necessary resources to implement decisions and see through interventions in an effective manner.
Chapter 2, authored by the Ghanaian scholar and practitioner Kwesi Aning, seeks to understand the institutional dynamics and decision-making processes of the PSC. Aning attempts to unravel the undocumented processes and institu-tional nuances within the PSC, which are often not available to scrutiny by the public domain. He applies a conceptual framework informed by new institution-alism to assess the PSC’s institutional dynamics and working culture. Aning also analyses the extent to which the PSC has applied its principles, norms, values and powers in its decision-making processes. Aning concludes by stating that the PSC needs to assert its autonomy to function effectively as a central pillar of the APSA, as this will enable the Council to play a more effective role in anticipating, managing and resolving Africa’s persistent disputes.
The analysis of some of the other key institutions of APSA begins with the Ethiopian analyst, Alemayehu Behabtu, who discusses the relationship between the PSC and the AU Continental Early Warning System (CEWS) in chapter 3.
Behabtu discusses the operationalisation of CEWS as a necessary innovation to enhance the ability of the AU to generate early warning information. However, he notes that the CEWS has been hampered by the slow pace of operationalisa-tion, which exposes some of the internal and external challenges that continue to affl ict the AU. In chapter 4, Moroccan peace practitioner and analyst Jamila El Abdellaoui further develops the discussion around the PSC and the AU Panel of the Wise, which was established in 2007. El Abdellaoui discusses some of the limited interventions that the Panel has undertaken. She concludes with some recommendations on how the Panel should increase its coordination with re-gional economic communities (RECs), civil society and the media. The French scholar, Delphine Lecoutre, analyses the misunderstood and under-researched AU Military Staff Committee (MSC) in chapter 5. She assesses the functions that the Committee was intended to fulfi l and examines the disconnect between what it was designed to do and what it currently does. Lecoutre argues for the revi-talisation of the MSC through the establishment of its own secretariat to convene meetings that feed into the work of the PSC.
In chapter 6, Kenyan scholar and practitioner Tim Murithi discusses the re-lationship between the PSC and African civil society. Murithi assesses the PSC’s willingness to engage civil society representatives. He argues that this commit-ment to civil society, at least on paper, is embodied in the AU Livingstone Formula,
which outlines the context and conditions under which CSOs can engage directly with the PSC. Murithi argues that despite these provisions, CSOs still struggle to effectively engage with the PSC and the wider AU system, due to the legacies of the past in terms of the perception of civil society. He concludes that a progres-sive partnership needs to be forged between the PSC and civil society in order to build bridges for more effective peacebuilding across the continent. In chapter 7, a Ghana-based team of peace practitioners and analysts, Ecoma Alaga, Emma Birikorang and Thomas Jaye, assess how the PSC has engaged with the issue of gender, based on its continuing recognition of the unequal impact of confl ict on women. They argue that there are gender gaps in the PSC’s policy development and implementation that need to be addressed. They conclude with a gendered critique of the PSC and call for a committed implementation of the policy in-struments that have been articulated to mainstream the gender agenda within the AU.
In chapter 8, Guyanese scholar and practitioner Kwesi Sansculotte-Greenidge contributes to the fi rst of the country and thematic studies with an assessment of the PSC’s record of intervention in the Darfur region of Sudan. He analyses the record of the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) and concludes with the recommendation for a more effective strategy in terms of the political engage-ment with Sudan and for adequately equipped and staffed AU peace operations.
In chapter 9, the Nigerian scholar Jimam Lar assesses the interaction between the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the PSC. Lar dis-cusses the collaborative intervention between the PSC and ECOWAS in Guinea-Bissau and Guinea-Conakry, and argues for consolidating and strengthening similar partnerships to address crisis situations across the African continent. In chapter 10, the African Union analyst, Issaka Souare, discusses how the PSC has addressed the issue of unconstitutional changes of government in Africa. He as-sesses some of the interventions that have been undertaken by the PSC under this mandate and concludes that more effective enforcement is required to ef-fectuate the genuine rejection of coups.
In chapter 11, Kenyan jurist and scholar Ahmed Idris analyses the emerging challenges that the PSC is facing with regards to the administration of interna-tional criminal justice. Idris argues that the standoff between the AU and the International Criminal Court (ICC) with regards to the arrest warrant issues over Omar Al-Bashir raises the dilemma of pursuing peace and justice in parallel. He rightly anticipates an escalation of tensions between the AU and the ICC, and
recommends that the PSC play a central role in mediating this relationship. In chapter 12, the Zimbabwean practitioner, Lui Chitima, assesses how the PSC has struggled with balancing the demands of the doctrine of the responsibil-ity to protect (R2P) with its historical preference for non-interference in Africa.
Chitima argues for the more effective utilisation of structures such as the Panel of the Wise and CEWS in order to uphold the interventionist objectives of R2P. In chapter 13, the Ethiopian scholar and analyst, Solomon Dersso, assesses the PSC’s mandate with respect to the international human rights regime. Dersso argues that while the PSC’s mandate is replete with a commitment to human rights, this theme is not systematically addressed in the work of the PSC. He argues for the integration of the human rights doctrine into the implementation of the PSC’s work in preventing, managing and resolving confl icts in Africa.
The fi nal three chapters assess the PSC’s international partnerships. In chapter 14, Nigerian scholar and international civil servant Obijiofor Aginam examines the turbulent relationship between the PSC and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Aginam notes that even though the Constitutive Act recognises the primacy of the UNSC in maintaining international peace and security, it reserves the right of the AU to intervene in grave crisis situations.
In chapter 15, European Union (EU) diplomats Thomas Muehlmann and Umberto Tavolato discuss the relationship between the PSC and the EU’s Political and Security Committee (COPS). They assess the historical link between the PSC and COPS in developing a strategic relationship between the AU and the EU. The United States-based Congolese scholar Jack Mangala discusses the PSC’s relation-ship with the US Africa Command (AFRICOM). Mangala assesses some of the partnerships that have developed between AFRICOM and the AU, and concludes that the Union should assess areas where it might be able to strategically lever-age its partnership with AFRICOM to advance its own lever-agenda of strengthening the APSA.
CONCLUSION
This broad range of chapters relating to the work of the AU PSC constitutes the fi rst volume to focus exclusively on the work of the Council. APSA is still in its nascent phase and a number of key institutions are yet to be fully operation-alised. The important fact is that African governments have articulated a plan to achieve a more peaceful and stable continent through a collective security
regime with the PSC at the heart of the architecture. There are a number of insti-tutions of APSA that require further and additional research and analysis. This monograph is therefore the opening salvo in a discourse on the work of the AU PSC as well as other institutions of APSA, and it is anticipated that it will inspire further research on these institutions.