African Peace Paradigms

Abstract

This chapter presents evidence of paradigms in Toyin Falola’s work that deal with peace in the continent as part of his contribution to African thinkers’ efforts to bring to light the many African peace and conflict resolution paradigms that Africans can draw on to resolve conflicts. The failure of Westerners and their approaches to resolve conflicts in Africa has encouraged African scholars to take a renewed interest in traditional African techniques for settling conflicts. These scholars are motivated by the belief that the implementation of African approaches to these conflicts is vital, as it allows Africans to be both the authors and the owners of the resolutions. As Falola and Raphael Chijioke Njoku point out, while armed conflicts in Africa have created havoc, ironically, most conflicts in society have been settled through negotiations and dialogue.¹