The African Union

The African Union (AU) is a very ambitious project, aiming to create unity among the states in Africa (in the long run even creating a “United States of Africa”) and to provide “African solutions to African problems,” e.g. by handling the continent's all too many armed conflicts. To this end an ambitious African Security Architecture has been outlined, envisioning a division of labour between the AU and the sub-regional organisations in Africa, which is nearing completion.

However, Senior Researcher Bjørn Møller (with PhD Thomas Mandrup of the Defence Academy) in a chapter in International Organisations: Their Role in Conflict Management published in November 2009, demonstrates that the actual accomplishments so far have been much less impressive and that the prospects for the near future are doubtful, mainly because of a desperate shortage of military and other resources.

Bjørn Møller and Thomas Mandrup, 2009. The African Union. A Common Security Structure in the Making? In International Organisations: Their Role in Conflict Management, ed. Peter Dahl Thruelsen. Copenhagen: Royal Danish Defence College
(website in Danish, but access to download of the book in English)