John-Paul Safunu Banchani
Publications
Foreign Military and Security Bases Implications for the Practice of Peace and Security in AfricaAs key contemporary global phenomena, foreign military and security bases have become a topical theme in academic and policy circles in recent decades. This is largely because of the increasing complexity of security challenges and the apparent lack of capacity of the affected states, coupled with competition among external powers for spheres of influence to establish military bases abroad as an extension to their foreign policies rooted in cultural, economic, political, and overseas national and security interests. This chapter adopts the definition of a foreign military base as “an extraterritorial unit with an external actor’s sovereign or semi-sovereign rights.” “Foreign military bases” is used here interchangeably or in connection with associated terms such as “foreign security bases,” “overseas security bases,” “foreign security arrangements,” “foreign security/military posts,” “foreign military alliances,” or “foreign security installations.” While these terms have slight differences, they are used in this chapter to broadly mean Africa-based external military establishments or posts that form part of global partnerships with African states with the claim to address security challenges in Africa.