Unscrambling subsidiarity in the African Union

The report argues that subsidiarity in the African Union (AU) is currently used as a political tool rather than a clear legal principle, leading to competition and inconsistency between the AU and regional mechanisms (RMs). It highlights that the lack of operational definitions and contradictory legal frameworks—such as the 2007 MoU and the PSC Protocol—creates confusion in the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA). The authors suggest shifting the focus from a division of competences to a model of complementarity, where regions act as 'first responders' while the AU remains the 'primary actor'. Key recommendations include establishing a comprehensive legal, policy, and financial framework, utilizing the AU Peace Fund for alignment, and creating operational liaison offices between the AU Commission and RMs.

• Subsidiarity in the African context is primarily a political tool used to regulate activities between regional and continental levels, rather than a defined legal principle, and is often used by regional bodies to protect themselves from an AU peace and security architecture perceived as intrusive.
• The AU's legal framework for managing relations between continental and regional levels is characterized by ambiguity and contradictions, which leads to inconsistent decision-making and competition over the ownership of solutions within the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA).
• There are three main trends in how subsidiarity is implemented: using regions as vehicles for AU involvement, member states using regional frameworks to circumvent AU involvement, and regional mechanisms (notably SADC) asserting themselves as the sole first responders to crises.
• The assumption that geographical proximity automatically ensures effectiveness is questioned, as evidenced by Mozambique's preference for a bilateral Rwandan intervention over a SADC deployment, and the Central African Republic's preference for the ICGLR over ECCAS and CEMAC.
• The European Union's African Peace Facility (APF) helps assert the primacy of the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) by requiring PSC endorsement for peace support operations to receive funding.

APA

Djilo, F., & Handy, P.-S. (2021). Unscrambling subsidiarity in the African Union. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/AR-37-Rev.pdf

Chicago

Djilo, Félicité, and Paul-Simon Handy. Unscrambling subsidiarity in the African Union. Institute for Security Studies, 2021. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/AR-37-Rev.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Djilo |first1=Félicité |last2=Handy |first2=Paul-Simon |title=Unscrambling subsidiarity in the African Union |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=December 2021 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/AR-37-Rev.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{djilo2021unscrambling, author = {Djilo, Félicité and Handy, Paul-Simon}, title = {{Unscrambling subsidiarity in the African Union}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2021}, month = dec, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/AR-37-Rev.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }