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This paper examines the implications of Operation Amotekun on the maintenance of national integration in Nigeria. The main objective of the study is to assess the rationale, positive, and negative outcomes of setting up a regional security outfit on the continuous existence of Nigeria as a nation. The data for this study were obtained through secondary sources of data collection. These sources include the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, newspaper publications, bulletins, magazines, journal, and reports from non-governmental organisations such as Amnesty International, the Red Cross, and Transparency International on internal security situations. The findings of the paper revealed that the failure of security agencies to guarantee the security of lives and property of average citizens was largely responsible for the formation of regional security outfits such as Operation Amotekun in order to complement the efforts of already existing security apparatus provided by the federal government. However, appropriate legislation must be put in place in order to ensure that the activities of regional security outfits do not constitute a threat to the maintenance of national integration due to the overbearing influence of the respective state governors on their operations. It is therefore recommended that regional security outfits work in synergy with already existing security agencies in order to ensure professionalism, national cohesion, observance of the rules of engagement, and peaceful coexistence in the long run.

The concept of power and the ways to measure it are central to the literature on regional security providers. The predominant model has power rooted in material capabilities. This article recognizes that such capabilities are important but contends that for a state to be become a regional security provider, it must meet certain preconditions, foremost amongst them: possession of necessary material and ideational capacity; judicious employment of such power resources; and regional recognition of its leadership. Obvious as it may sound, effective leadership is also heavily contingent upon the domestic performance of regional powers. In this regard, the choice of Algeria and Morocco provides an interesting comparative case to broaden the traditional determinants of how to categorize regional security providers. Surprisingly, Morocco has been neglected in studies on regional security in the Maghreb and Sahel despite its rising ideational and economic influence in the region. Even Algeria has seen few studies use an integral approach to analyze its roles, orientations and performance as a regional security provider.

How does the interaction of power at the global-regional nexus impact the behavior of regional powers? Neorealism predicts that changes in polarity accompany changes in expectations regarding great power behavior. The cases below consider strategic approaches to crisis mediation pursued by regional powers Saudi Arabia, Brazil, and Russia under conditions of bipolarity, unipolarity, and multipolarity to assess the impact of the international system’s structure on regional power behavior. Consistently, the cases in this article show regional powers adopting roles that seek to preempt great power involvement, regardless of the regional power’s orientation toward the system. Even if different polarities generate variations in uncertainty among great powers at the international level, as neorealism predicts, those variations do not filter any clarity regarding great power intentions down to the regional level. This consistency in regional power behavior may provide a baseline for analysis as emerging multipolarity increases the complexity of regional disputes.

This paper examined the correlation between the current Nigeria’s security architecture, the burgeoning insecurity across the country, the resort to alternative security measures by some geo-political zones, and the implications for national integration. The study, which is essentially descriptive or qualitative in approach, gathered data from secondary shreds of evidence. Building upon variants of the social contract and securitisation theories, the study argued that the lack of robust and prompt responses to calls for protection has diminished the confidence of Nigerian citizens in security institutions. Findings revealed that failure in the country’s centrally managed security architecture, comprising the armed forces, the police, para-military forces, etc., necessitated the resort to self-help through the formation of regional security outfits across the nation. The paper recommended, among other measures, the decentralisation of the national security structure through the creation of state and community policing. Aside from ensuring grassroots security and quick access to law enforcement agents by citizens, community-based approaches to security have the potential to strengthen the links between formal and informal systems, as well as unity, peaceful co-existence, and above all, national integration.

This article places the problem of insurgency and counterinsurgency in the African Sahel region in a regional perspective to elucidate the interplay of local and external forces that have impacted present dynamics. The paper argues that the Sahel is not a unified Regional Security Complex but a space of overlapping security complexes, a factor that clearly complicates the security situation in the region, as well as the prospect of effective threats' securitization. Two related concentrics of political insurgencies in the contemporary Sahel region, the Malian axis and the Lake Chad Basin axis, are depicted and analyzed. The constellation of factors and actors underpinning and driving the insurgencies are examined.

Various ecological problems have become increasingly prominent due to the accelerated growth of urbanization. Ecological security and ecological conservation have become an important topics in the current scenario. This study took southern Anhui as an example, constructing comprehensive assessment models to conduct source identification from three perspectives, i.e. ecosystem services, ecological sensitivity and residents’ ecological needs. Landscape resistance surface was built based on the reciprocal of habitat quality and night-time light data. According to the circuit theory, the ecological process in the heterogeneous landscape was simulated to identify ecological corridors, extract pinch points and divide barriers that need improvement, thereby to construct the southern Anhui ecological security pattern (ESP). The pattern comprised 20 ecological sources, 37 ecological corridors, 9 pinch points and 2 levels of improvement areas. Specifically, ecological sources were mainly distributed within the area of Huangshan city and Xuancheng city, mostly covered with trees; ecological corridors were mostly located in the northern part of the research area; pinch points were mainly farmland or beside construction land; the primary improvement area was mainly in Chaohu city and Maanshan city, while the secondary improvement area was distributed around the primary area. The study discussed the diversified improvement strategies of different barriers and introduced the optimization scheme “one centre, two wings, one belt”, providing planning advice for decision-makers. The study expanded the construction of regional ESP, and partly guided the steady development of ESP of southern Anhui.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has received wide scholarly attention for various reasons. The conflict has considerably disrupted global economy, trade relations, and supply of goods and services. It has arguably resulted in major shifts in geopolitical and geostrategic arrangements. The conflict has also had dire consequences on the developing countries including South Africa. The food and fuel prices have reached unprecedented levels. Considering this, the primary objective of this paper was to examine the rationale behind South Africa’s ‘quiet diplomacy’ towards the conflict. To achieve this objective, the paper critically reviewed related literature as a method of inquiry. A myriad of documents focusing on the conflict and South Africa’s response were, therefore, reviewed. The paper also employed regional security complex theory and hegemony theory as the lens to elucidate the causes, demystify and dissect the impact of the conflict on a global scale. The paper revealed that, although South Africa’s unaligned position may not be in the best interest of the West, the decision is important to advocate dialogue as opposed to picking a side. It is also important to maintain historical ties and diplomatic relations. The paper filled the lacuna existing regarding the rationale behind South Africa’s nonaligned posture. It offered a comparative analysis. By filling this lacuna, the paper thus contributed to the body of knowledge regarding the rapidly changing dynamics in global politics and foregrounded South Africa’s diplomatic relations with other countries. Consequently, the paper recommended that dialogue or negotiated settlement be considered as sustainable conflict management and resolution strategy.

This paper examines the most significant processes of securitization and desecuritization occurring at the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) from its inception in 2008 until 2017, when UNASUR began to experience a gridlock. The analysis begins with the hypotheses of desecuritization of armed conflict among the South American countries, as well as their approach to problems drug-related. To this end, the paper is based on a critical theory of security with focus on securitization, and offers an expanded and/or discursive conception of security that goes beyond the military dimension.

The People's Republic of China (PRC) has irrefutably reached ‘great power’ status. As a consequence, most studies argue that it has adopted a revisionist posture towards the US-led international order. However, this image tells us little about Beijing's revisionist strategy, particularly whether it is revolutionary or incremental and what this implies in terms of actual policies. The current article posits that the PRC is behaving as an incremental revisionist and aims at tracing its modes. To verify this hypothesis, the analysis focuses on Beijing's policies towards its regional security order. In this light, it diachronically compares post-Cold War China (1989–2019) with the paradigmatic case of a revolutionary revisionist in the Indo-Pacific region: Shōwa Japan in the Interwar period (1926–1941). The findings offer a helpful contribution to the literature, providing the foundation for a more nuanced theoretical definition of incremental revisionism.

With its nuclear provocations and missile launches, North Korea has been viewed as a major impediment to building a cooperative security order in East Asia. What is puzzling, however, is that it is North Korea that has sparked a range of regional initiatives from South Korean governments. What is the role of North Korea in South Korea's search for a new regional order in East Asia? Does the nature of inter-Korean relations affect the types of regionalism sought by South Korean governments? To address these questions, I examine the scope and priorities of the regional initiatives led by the four South Korean presidents in the past two decades. I argue that the nature of inter-Korean relations and the foreign policy orientation of South Korean leaders in power explain the different types of regionalism pursued by South Korean governments.