The Triumph of the Liberal Securitocracy: Africa’s Great Lakes New Dispensation

• Clement, Caty (Senior Fellow & Senior Programme Advisor, Geneva Centre for Security Policy Abstract)

Abstract

This paper tackles the new dominant governance paradigm focusing on Africa’s Great Lakes: liberal securitocracy. These are different from traditional military dictatorship in that they have adapted a liberal veneer both politically (holding regular elections, for instance) and economically with some even joining the OMC or ranking high on the World Bank’s annual Going Business report. Despite the appropriation of the global liberal order with varying degrees of sophistication, the regime remains rooted in its ability, readiness and willingness to resort to violence. This governance system has become pervasive in many fragile situations where related concepts (e.g., right wing Leninism, military aristocracy, situation thermidorienne) to describe this new type of regime appear in Putin’s Russia, South East Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

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