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The Politics of Arms Limitation in Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 September 2016

Abbott A. Brayton
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Extract

The popular view of military activities in Africa is one of a continent gripped by political chaos, uncontrolled conflict, and in the vise of an arms race. The U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency recently reported that military expenditures among African countries rose 154 percent in the decade 1969-1978. To the inexperienced observer it appears that the African peoples have descended into a Hobbesian abyss, and that misguided governments are squandering their national resources on armaments rather than on programs for human development.

This article suggests otherwise: there are heartening signs amid disheartening news. Empirical evidence indicates that most African countries are engaged neither in conflict with neighboring states, nor in an arms race; indeed, there emerges, for whatever reasons, a pattern of military restraint. This is not to deny the presence of conflict in Africa. Fifty-three sovereign and semi-sovereign newly emerging states are not likely to coexist without contention, and this compounded by extraordinary border problems, the legacy of a century of conflict and compromise among the colonial powers. Rather, it is suggested here that while some African states may be squandering some national resources on armaments, many are not.

There must be reasons why many African states, newly emerging into an imperfect, often hostile world, renounce large security systems. It appears that some form of arms limitation is functioning among many African states and that rapid growth of armaments is confined to a few countries.

Type
Articles
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , March 1983 , pp. 73 - 90
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1983

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