Enhancing AU responses to instability

This policy brief by the Institute for Security Studies examines the disconnect between the African Union's (AU) African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) and the African Governance Architecture (AGA). It argues that while poor governance is a primary driver of instability in Africa, the AU's responses remain reactive and fragmented due to institutional differences between these two frameworks. The author proposes several options to integrate governance and security, ranging from amending the Peace and Security Council (PSC) protocol to creating a unified 'Architecture for Stability in Africa' (ASA).

• The African Union (AU) struggles to address the root causes of instability because its responses are primarily reactive, focusing on ongoing crises rather than the underlying governance issues that trigger them.
• There is a significant institutional and operational divide between the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) and the African Governance Architecture (AGA). APSA is a vertical, decision-making structure focused on conflict management and exogenous outputs, whereas AGA is a horizontal, informal coordinating platform focused on norm-setting and endogenous outputs.
• Despite overlapping mandates regarding human rights and the rule of law, the two architectures are hindered by structural obstacles, including differing institutional cultures, conflicting vested interests, and a lack of clarity regarding the division of labour between the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) and the Peace and Security Department (PSD).
• Interaction between AGA and APSA has been limited and largely restricted to the area of elections, which has not allowed for the development of strategic, long-term approaches to governance.
• The author recommends amending the Peace and Security Council (PSC) protocol, specifically suggesting it be renamed the 'Protocol for peace and stability' to reflect a multi-dimensional approach to long-term stability.
• Three policy options are proposed to link the architectures: enhancing existing links by giving the PSC a more vertical role over AGA, creating a joint analysis unit to produce country structural vulnerability assessments (CSVA), or establishing a comprehensive 'Architecture for Stability in Africa' (ASA) that merges both frameworks.

APA

Bedzigui, Y. (2018). Enhancing AU responses to instability. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/policy-brief-113.pdf

Chicago

Bedzigui, Yann. Enhancing AU responses to instability. Institute for Security Studies, 2018. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/policy-brief-113.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bedzigui |first1=Yann |title=Enhancing AU responses to instability |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=2018 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/policy-brief-113.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bedzigui2018enhancing, author = {Bedzigui, Yann}, title = {{Enhancing AU responses to instability}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2018}, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/policy-brief-113.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }