Governance Through Regime Complexity: What Role for the EU in the African Security Regime Complex?

Malte Brosig, Friedrich Plank and Yf Reykers
Additional contact information
Malte Brosig: Department of International Relations, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Friedrich Plank: Department of Political Science, Johannes Gutenberg‐University Mainz, Germany
Yf Reykers: Department of Political Science, Maastricht University, The Netherlands

Politics and Governance, 2023, vol. 11, issue 2, 72-83

Abstract: The international response to armed conflict in Africa often takes the form of a regime complex characterized by institutional proliferation, overlap, unclear hierarchies, and multiple interconnections. At the same time, the course of conflict is hardly predictable. In such an environment, how can component units (institutional fora) of a regime complex effectively govern through complexity? We explore this question by focusing on the EU as an important actor within regime complexes. Building on the regime complexity literature and complexity theory, we identify four conditions. We argue that actors who operate as resource hubs, create complementarity, support system self-organization, and practice adaptive forms of peacebuilding are best placed to manage regime complexity. Empirically we probe these assumptions in the context of the Sahelian security regime complex and the role the EU is playing in it.

Keywords: European Union; regime complexity; Sahel; security (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/6356 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:poango:v11:y:2023:i:2:p:72-83

DOI: 10.17645/pag.v11i2.6356

Access Statistics for this article

Politics and Governance is currently edited by Carolina Correia

More articles in Politics and Governance from Cogitatio Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by António Vieira () and IT Department ().