AbstractsPolitical Science

«The Organization of African Unity and Conflict Management: Still a Toothless Bulldog? » The establishment of a Conflict Management Mechanism in 1993 within the Organization of African Unity (OAU) was an attempt to strengthen OAU's conflict management instruments. The objective of this thesis has been to assess to what extent the establishment of the Conflict Management Mechanism indicates a development towards an African security regime? My working hypothesis states that the signing of the Mechanism resembles a formal willingness among the African states to co-operate within the field of security. However, signinig a paper will not resolve any conflicts. If the OAU is to constitute a security regime there has to be an ability and an operational willingness to create a stable security environment consisting of strong states. I order to assess to what extent the Mechanism has improved OAU's ability or institutional capacity to reduce conflicts I have compared the organisations principles, structures and finances before and after 1993. When assessing the organisations operational willingness I have looked closer at OAU's invovlement in three conflicts after 1993, namely Liberia, Rwanda and Comoros. The empirical findings indicate that the establishment of the Mechanism has improved the OAU's degree of institutional capacity, and its operational willingness to create a stable security environment. Even so, the organisation did not prove to be effective when attempting to reduce the conflicts in Liberia, in Rwanda and in the Comoros. The main reason is the fact that the Mechanism is situated within the OAU's organisational framework, and as such exposed to the same limitations that have hampered the OAU in its earlier attempts to reduce conflicts. As such one might argue that the OAU, or the Secretariat, has demonstrated a willingness to engage in conflict resolution by improving its ability and increasing its involvement. According to my analysis the willingness within the Secretariat to establish and strengthen the Mechanism, can be perceived as a genuine willingness to contribute to the reduction of conflicts in Africa, or as a strategy to ensure the survival of an organisation dependent on foreign donors. Most likely the willingness includes both these perceptions. However, the OAU still lacks the ability to reduce conflicts, because the member states are not willing to grant the organisation the ability needed. The OAU is therefore in many respects `still a toothless bulldog', which can bark but cannot bite. The willingness to establish the Mechanism does suggests that the OAU has become a teething bulldog indicating that it might evolve into a biting bulldog, or into an effective security regime.