The Persistence of Violent Conflicts in the African Continent: A Discourse Analysis of Principal Causes

Abstract

The current paper sought to identify the causes of the persistence of violent conflicts in the African continent and how all of this affects democracy. The research question grappled with in the current paper is: What are the causes of the perpetuation of violent conflict in Africa and how does this impact democracy? Beyond the use of an Afrocentric lens due to the limitations of the literature in discussing this subject from an Africa-centred lens, the paper has used secondary data materials to inform the objective of the paper. The paper has revealed multiple causes including perpetual imperial influences, foreign socio-political doctrines and indoctrination, global arms and suppliers and arms trafficking, and lack of effective leadership as the central pillars of violence in the African continent. It then became important for the African continent to devise a common code of effective leadership, and effective measures of arms control, including counter-foreign and defense policies in a matter that check the excess flow of international indoctrination and imperial influences on Africa.