Lecture Series | Jana Hönke (Bayreuth) | South-South Security Arrangements and Postcolonial Hierarchies

This talk forms part of the lecture series War. Peace. Security. organised by Dr Cindy Wittke (IOS Regensburg) with Dr Paul Vickers (ScienceCampus) and Prof. Ulf Brunnbauer (IOS Regensburg). The lecute will be held in English.

Download the calendar file here.

Abstract:

Kenyan police officers arrived in Haiti in 2024 as the first contingent of a new, Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission. In Mali, private military personnel of the Russian Wagner Group have been fighting alongside the Malian Armed Forces since 2021. These are but two out of many South-South arrangements on the rise in Africa, and in international interventions and transnational security governance more broadly. This talk will discuss how these arrangements contest but also sustain postcolonial hierarchies in contemporary security governance. While postcolonial hierarchies have been discussed in the context of North-South security relations, it will be argued that they are at work in new security relations across the Global South and East as well.    

Bio:

Jana Hönke holds the Chair of Sociology of Africa at the University of Bayreuth. Her research focuses on global governance, political sociology, and the politics of security in Africa, particularly in the context of extractive industries and corporate practices. She has conducted extensive fieldwork across Africa and is actively engaged in interdisciplinary and international collaborations. Prof. Hönke is widely published, contributing to discussions on power, authority, and resistance in African contexts, while addressing global governance challenges. Prof. Hönke is also the founder of the UBT Peace and Conflict research network, Deputy Spokesperson of the Bavarian Research Alliance Conflict, Peace and Security (Bayerische Wissenschaftsallianz für Friedens-, Konflikt- und Sicherheitsforschung) and member of the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy Hamburg (IFSH).

This lecture will be held in cooperation with Bayreuth Peace Talks.