Redefining Peace in a Shifting World

This book offers a groundbreaking exploration of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)’s role in peace-making in the Horn of Africa (HoA), focusing on its efforts in the South Sudan conflict. Blending rigorous academic analysis with practitioner insights, it shows how IGAD’s distinctive, adaptable approach challenges Eurocentric models of peace, security governance, and regional integration. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and interviews across East Africa, the book examines African regionalism, Pan-Africanism, hybrid governance, and the decolonisation of peace theory and practice. It traces IGAD’s facilitation of the 2018 peace agreement, revealing how the organisation weaves together contending ideas and practices of peace. Through strategic hybridisation and platformisation, it underscores African agency and calls for reimagining peace, security, and integration from an African perspective. This book is essential reading for scholars, policymakers, and anyone interested in African peace processes, global governance, regional organisations, and the politics of peace in the Global South.

Dr Ibrahim Sakawa Magara is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Peace and Security, Coventry University. He researches peace and security regionalism in Africa, particularly the Horn of Africa. Drawing on over a decade of peacebuilding experience, he has published widely on African peace processes, diplomacy, and regional governance.