New mediation practices in African conflicts

Politics in Africa is undergoing fundamental and rapid changes these days. On the one hand, since the early 1990s the African people have made substantial progress in consolidating democratic rule, insisting on good governance and claiming human rights. On the other hand, this progress has been constantly challenged since the early 2000s by regression in the quality of many formally established democracies, cases of election-related violence, a number of coups d’etat and other forms of unconstitutional changes of government. This edited volume problematises how this ambivalent constellation of the African continent between democracy and conflict has led to the emergence of new mediation practices evolving around the African Union Commission (AUC) and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs). Primarily these practices are based on changes in the norms governing the relations between AU member states. They are related to the creation of new Pan-African institutions, the emergence of a new division of labour between the African Union and the RECs, but also conflict of interests among AU member states. And, finally, they reflect Africa’s changing relations with its external environment.