The African Leadership Centre carried out a mapping study on knowledge production on peace and security in Africa from 1960 to 2018. However, one of its shortcomings was findings based solely on Anglophone countries. This initiative builds on this previous work to map knowledge production across three regions: West Africa, Southern Africa and Central Africa with a focus on Lusophone and Francophone countries.

In line with the ALC’s research agenda on knowledge production in peace and security in Africa, this project explores: to what extent are the selected Francophone and Lusophone countries underrepresented in the Anglophone dominated peace and security global debates? It asks: in what ways does this lack of information shape actors’ involvement in solving long term insecurity challenges in these countries?

The following case studies will be the focus of our study:

Mozambique: is one of the largest Lusophone countries. It has also resisted Western encroachment whilst taking a military and ‘hard security’ approach to the ongoing conflict that has occurred since the 1970s, the recent manifestations of which has reignited discussions around the complexities and challenges of state-building and peacebuilding in the country.

Cameroon: since 2016, Cameroon has experienced the most neglected crisis in the world, plagued by “diplomatic and political paralysis” and “little media attention” or “global news silence” (NRC, 2020). Knowledge production on Cameroon’s internal crises is imperative as it is pivotal to stability beyond its borders.

Senegal: has not been massively affected by violence and insecurity however, the critical role of Senegal in the fight against insecurity in the Sahel region should be critically analysed and should not be marginalised (Ndiaye, 2016). We aim to do a literature review on existing knowledge of the role of Senegal in Peace and Security in the sub-region from 2014 to 2020.

Burundi: has experienced long term ‘forgotten’ genocide in 1972 civil wars, and the latest being the 2015 election-related violence (Lemarchand, 2012). Yet, it has attracted little research compared to its neighbours in the region (Curtis, 2019:6). Overall, our study seeks to explore major gaps in the literature that will inform future research with an aim to influence policy makers, and scholars with proposed outputs.

Objectives:

• to produce original comparative work on peace and security in Senegal, Burundi, Cameroon, and Mozambique.
• to provide a comparative analysis of literature on peace and security produced in Anglophone contexts.
• to examine how these countries’ marginalisation on certain themes in peace and security shapes local, regional and international actors’ interventions.