Canada's non-imperial internationalism in Africa: Understanding Canada's security policy in the AU and ECOWAS

This study is concerned with Canada's policy towards peace, security and development in Africa. It examines Canada's response to these issues in relation to the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), the African Union Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Security Mechanism. With the intensification of violent conflicts in parts of Africa and their impact on individuals, communities, and socioeconomic development, African leaders transformed the OAU into the AU and established APSA to promote regional and human security in Africa. At the sub-regional level, West African leaders established the ECOWAS Security Mechanism to address the (human) security deficit in the West Africa region.;These institutional transformations coincided with the launching of the NEPAD, which became one of the central instruments of engagement between Africa and the international community to address the peace, security and development challenges on the African continent. Canada's response to the NEPAD under the Liberal government of Jean Chretien came in the form of a...