What a Difference a Decade Makes: Understanding Security Policy Reversals Between the Organisation of African Unity and the African Union

No other African Union (AU) institution represents as significant a departure from the past as the African Peace and Security Architecture, a framework for anticipating and responding to crises, and conflicts on the continent. The Architecture lays the foundations for African peacekeeping missions, the promotion of human security, and provides the Union with a legal right of intervention. A decade prior to the AU’s establishment, African governments had resolutely rejected a more modest expansion in the security competencies of its predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity. This chapter investigates what prompted this volte-face from African governments, highlighting the significance of democratisation in pivotal states in the 1990s, the influence of African humanitarian tragedies during the same period and the nature of decision-making at the AU.