Human Security and Developmental Crisis in the Contemporary West Africa

Abstract

The last two decades were characterized by severe conflicts in the West Africa sub-region. The era of conflict resolution, management and peace building thus came to define the region. The destruction left by long years of protracted conflicts and the present state of development is reason enough to warrant attention both from within and beyond. The study expounds, operationalizes and clarifies the concept of human security and development, and how human security issues lead to underdevelopment. The paper investigates the human security concerns in the post-conflict period and also looks at the crisis of development in the sub-region. It highlights details on the developmental crises that have bedevilled the sub-region and at the same time exposes the threats these crises pose on national security and peace in the sub-region. This paper concludes that there is no appreciable effort in operationalizing human security in West Africa and this will lead to instability. The paper maintains that human security issues now complicate the developmental crisis in the sub-region due to its ambiguity. The paper suggests that policy makers should address human security issues in order to tackle developmental crisis in the sub-region.