African Agency or Postcolonial Power Relations? A Decolonial Analysis of the African Union and United Nations Relationship in UNAMID

As the involvement of regional organizations in peacekeeping has significantly grown over the past decades, the relationship of these organizations with the United Nations has been reconfigured. This is particularly the case for the African Union and the UN, that set up their first peacekeeping mission with joint ownership in 2007 with UNAMID, the UN-AU hybrid mission in Darfur. The UN-AU relationship is not only determined by global-regional power relations, also postcolonial power relations play a role. As a result of these power relations, the AU is often perceived as being rather agency- and powerless. This thesis will counter this narrative, by studying the way in which the AU exercised agency over the set-up of UNAMID. It finds that while the AU was constrained by material capacity and the influence of powerful actors, it was still able to exercise agency and have influence on the UN, by using discursive strategies and the contestation of norms. Following these findings, this...Show moreAs the involvement of regional organizations in peacekeeping has significantly grown over the past decades, the relationship of these organizations with the United Nations has been reconfigured. This is particularly the case for the African Union and the UN, that set up their first peacekeeping mission with joint ownership in 2007 with UNAMID, the UN-AU hybrid mission in Darfur. The UN-AU relationship is not only determined by global-regional power relations, also postcolonial power relations play a role. As a result of these power relations, the AU is often perceived as being rather agency- and powerless. This thesis will counter this narrative, by studying the way in which the AU exercised agency over the set-up of UNAMID. It finds that while the AU was constrained by material capacity and the influence of powerful actors, it was still able to exercise agency and have influence on the UN, by using discursive strategies and the contestation of norms. Following these findings, this thesis advocates for a decolonial shift in the understanding of the AU that makes space for African agency and African contributions in international affairs, particularly, but not only, in peace and security matters.Show less

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African Agency or Postcolonial Power Relations? A Decolonial Analysis of the African Union and United Nations Relationship in UNAMID