Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Frontiers in Political Science

Publication Date

6-26-2026

Abstract

Introduction – Traditional approaches to African security often treat neocolonialism, governance failures, and terrorism as isolated issues, obscuring their systemic interconnections under Anthropocene conditions of human-induced environmental change. This study argues that African security should be reconceptualized in light of climate change, resource depletion, and ecosystem degradation, as these dynamics reshape the continent's collective security arrangements. Methods – This research combines critical analysis of African collective security mechanisms, focusing on the African Union and the African Peace and Security Architecture, with qualitative evidence from 15 unstructured interviews conducted in Mali, Nigeria, and Egypt between July and October 2025. Thematic qualitative content analysis was conducted manually to trace the interactions among environmental stressors, external funding patterns, and local governance practices within specific security contexts. Results – The analysis shows that climate and environmental stressors are significant security multipliers, intensifying grievances tied to marginalization, governance deficits, and economic precarity. It also shows that the African Union's collective security instruments remain heavily dependent on external funding, reinforcing Western-centric, state-focused paradigms and privileging militarized responses over preventive, locally grounded strategies. Discussion – These findings suggest that African security thinking must move beyond externally driven, securitized models toward endogenous frameworks that reflect the lived realities of the Anthropocene. Such frameworks should incorporate local practices and knowledge systems, strengthen regional solidarity, and prioritize human dignity, ecosystem resilience, and hybrid governance arrangements as foundational principles for sustainable stability across the continent.

ISSN

2673-3145

Publisher

Frontiers Media SA

Volume

8

First Page

1

Last Page

16

Disciplines

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Keywords

Africa, African security, African union, anthropocene, climate change, development

Scopus ID

105047083243

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

yes

Open Access Type

Gold: This publication is openly available in an open access journal/series

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