The Insecurity of Inequality in Africa: A Review of Recent Developments

Abstract

This article examines the paradoxical and problematical relationship between inequality and insecurity. Leaning on Karl Marx’s structural approach in explaining social inequality and conflicts, a discussion of specific inequality-propelled conflicts that have made the continent to be plagued by a broad spectrum of traditional and non-traditional security threats was made. The inequality-insecurity nexus is particularly made daunting by constant intimidation of the lower-class by powerful rich which drives the socially excluded into conflict, terrorism and other behaviour that threaten security. Indeed, the cycle of insecurity occasioned by socioeconomic inequality can only be broken by deliberate policy interventions with political commitment.

Keywords: Africa, Conflict, Development, Gender, Inequality, Insecurity