School of International Relations & Diplomacy

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Addressing gender gaps in agricultural productivity in Africa: comparative case studies from Tanzania, Malawi and Uganda+
(Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy, 2018) Asa Torkelsson; Francis Onditi
This article examines why, in most African countries, women farmers achieve lower productivity in agriculture than men. It contributes to this debate by interrogating whether or not addressing gender gaps in agricultural production significantly contributes to socio-economic well-being (resilience) of women as well as the gross domestic product (GDP). The Living Standards Measurement Studies-Integrated Survey for Agriculture projects was adopted to produce estimates for three countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda). The article draws from a research report and collaborative study by UN Women with UNEP and World Bank. The result shows that although female farmers individually manage slightly more than 25 per cent of all plots in Malawi and Uganda and about 20 per cent of all plots in Tanzania, Malawi shows the largest difference in mean productivity where women’s plots are, on average, 28 per cent less productive than men’s while Tanzania and Uganda reported 16 per cent and 13 per cent gender gaps, respectively. This result implies that the importance of other productive resources other than access to land may be key – for instance, the need to tackle constraints related to women’s access to “household male labour” and policies that help women farmers to access labour-saving technologies.
African National Anthems: Their Value System and Normative 'Potential
(Kyoto University, 2018-03) Francis Onditi
Arguably, a national anthem defines a country’s identity. Globally, it regarded as a symbol of national unity. In Africa, they assert a country’s independence from colonial imperialism. Despite their strong symbolism and nationalistic ingenuity, national anthems have remained latent in both academic and policy discourses. Moreover, they not only exhibit nationalistic elements, but also propagandistic, aggressive or even chauvinistic constructs. In view of this dichotomy, the debate continues to deepen as the dilemma unveils, how to reconcile the positive elements of the national anthems with the antagonistic lyrics they produce in order to promote values and norms for full realization of ‘African potentials?’ Drawing upon Ian Manners’s concept of ‘normative power,’ this article employs thematic network analysis tools to examine the pattern of lyrics within the African national anthems as potential sources of ‘norms’ for framing the philosophy of ‘African potentials.’ This article goes beyond the common argument that national anthems are historical effgies to discover the ‘potentials’ within the diversity of constructs emerging from their lyrics and thematic network analytics.
Civil-Military Relations and the African Standby Forces' Multidimensionism
(Journal of African Conflicts and Peace Studies, 2016-08) Francis Onditi; Pontian G. Okoth
The feasibility of a multidimensional African Standby Force (ASF) and the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crises (ACIRC) is uncertain. This is despite the existence of a policy framework initiating the ASF and regional mechanisms (RMs). The policy was adopted and adapted to assume a multidimensional configuration, in May 2003 and in 2004 respectively. More than ten years after its establishment, there exist an unconcluded debate on whether the ASF and the regional mechanisms have achieved the multidimensional status-military, civilians and police components. It is in this sense that reference to civil-military relations (CMRs) has become almost a cliché of debates in the African Union’s (AU) peacekeeping space. Indeed, the sour relationship between the military and civilians has been described as a ‘hindrance’ to the attainment of full operation capability by ASF structures earmarked for 2015. Whilst, the realities of conflict in most parts of Africa is that militants have changed tact, rendering pure military operation ineffective, the most effective response is for peace support operation (PSO) actors to develop balanced structures to respond to these multifaceted peace and security threats facing the continent. In this article, the significance of both structural and institutional constraints are considered. The conclusion points to the need to adapt the ASF structures to the African PSO realities, but more critically, improve its configuration and design in the light of the lessons learnt since its establishment more than a decade ago.
COVID-19 experience among slum dwellers in Nairobi: A double tragedy or useful lesson for public health reforms?
(International Social Work, 2020-11) Israel Nyaburi Nyadera; Francis Onditi
The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the socio-economic and health dimensions of many societies across the world. For those in urban informal settlements, direct and indirect negative impacts of the pandemic and the resulting government policies have had devastating consequences on their livelihood. As the virus continues to spread rapidly, the more popular measures such as curfews, lockdown, and working from home have overlooked the fate of slum dwellers, who are left to choose between life and livelihood. This article examines the unique challenges people in informal settlements are facing during the pandemic. It focuses on the city of Nairobi, which has several informal settlements where more than 4 million people reside. The authors note that a combination of systematic marginalization, poor policies, and inadequate planning has left millions of people in Nairobi vulnerable to the direct and indirect impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The article concludes that as the virus continues to spread rapidly and the emerging socio-economic challenges undermine government’s capacity to respond to the crisis, support from other stakeholders such as social workers may have a positive impact.
Dominatarianism darwinism EAC Jumuiya contextual (mis)fitability regional integration
(Insight on Africa, 2021-01) Francis Onditi
In this article an alternative thinking and methodological approach for the study of regional integration is proposed, addressing the limitations of classical regional integration theories and the new regionalism approach. A ‘dominatarian’ theory is introduced as an alternative analytical framework that exposes meanings attributed to a social force called ‘personness’, and how regions could be (re)constructed through this anthropocentric lens. The East African Community (EAC, henceforth referred to as the Jumuiya) is chosen as a tour de force for regional integration theories. The triadal analysis of the three main components of classical regional integration theories—economy, institutions and politics—reveals the deficiency of these frameworks in explaining the role of ‘personness’ in regional integration processes, especially within the African context. Consequently, the phrase ‘contextual misfitability’ has been coined to describe this condition. The article concludes with a reflection on how meanings are created and re-created from the Darwinian ontologies of natural sciences into social science regimes and its application to regional integration studies.
Eurocentrism vs. Afrocentric Scholarship: A Constructive Disruptive Account of an Academic (Conflictology) Self-Reflexivity
(Alternatives: Global, Local, Political., 2024-04-17) Francis Onditi
This review study aims to debunk the notion that the Global South, particularly Africa, is essentially a consumer of knowledge produced by the Global North. While some scholars have argued that the lopsided nature of the global knowledge architecture might be attributed to North-South politics and the historical legacy of colonialism, the issue of “self-consciousness” in reinventing scientific methodological approaches within academic disciplines remains insufficiently addressed among scholars in the Global South. Using the case of “conflictology” as an emerging academic discipline and insights from the three cardinal principles of transformative leadership, this study explores new frontiers of knowledge production from my own field experiences researching the viability of African interethnic border markets as Infrastructures for Peace (I4P). This is part of the long-term, complex research agenda I have pursued in my quest for a scientific “explanation” of the concept of “closeness centrality” in the study of conflict evolutionary theories in human society.
From Resource Curse to Institutional Incompatibility: A Comparative Study of Nigeria and Norway Oil Resource Governance.
(Brill, 2019-11-11) Francis Onditi
This article seeks to address a policy quandary: despite Nigeria’s history of oil exploitation since 1956 and institutionalization of the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) in 2004, why has the country not been able to address the resource wealth–poverty dilemma? Is it that the EITI’s governance model is too Western to address Nigeria’s resource curse? It has been established that a country’s propensity to integrate EITI principles in the oil industry is largely dependent not only on the existence of institutions, but also on the level of institutional development. Norway and Nigeria both created policy and regulatory systems. Norway’s more competent administrative structures grew into a self-regulatory system but, by contrast, Nigeria’s indigenous civil service never developed institutional arrangements sufficient to integrate the oil industry into the entire national or regional institutional framework. Considering these historical and contextual differences between Nigeria and Norway, this article employs ‘stakeholder analysis’ to construct a framework of ‘thinking’ regarding how the oil sector could be effectively governed in Nigeria (Figure 7), a country with a robust civil society but a complex political system: in such countries, evolution of what I call a ‘self-reinforcing system of institutional incompatibility’ is inevitable, but institutionalization of foreign models such as EITI is often difficult to achieve.
Futuring an ‘Inclusive Knowledge Futures’ framework beyond IR theories
(Futures, 2022-09) Francis Onditi
This article proposes an ‘inclusive knowledge futures’ (IKF) analytical framework as an alternative for integrating African home-grown knowledge architecture (henceforth ‘Afric-rhektology’) into the west-dominated international relations (IR) thought and practice. On the basis of this Afric-rhektological knowledge mantra, I argue that to remain complacent to the current IR studies order, altogether, and to insist on resting in the moment of simple difference, is only to recoil into the obverse of a colonial universalism. It is in fact a purely deconstructive project that cannot offer an alternative to concrete forms of knowledge hegemony. The article factors in ‘disruption’ and brings new tools of analysis based on philosophies rooted in the African socio-cultural context. Disrupting the existing west-dominated fabric of IR theories allows borderless diffusion of knowledge, a reciprocal sharing of resources, cultures and technologies. By so doing, it renders hierarchies and knowledge hegemony utterly useless. Within this knowledge disruption thinking, I evoke the Afric-rhektology tools to mainstream some of the profound Africa based philosophies (Ujamaa and Ubaraza), as a way of accepting multiplicity, hybridity and inclusivity of IR and Futures Studies.
Gaming Borderless Internationalism: How to ‘Interlocalise’ Global System Using Ujamaa Epistemology
(International Studies, 2023-07-31) Francis Onditi
This article develops a proposed unifying theoretical framework for the concept of ‘interlocalization’ as an explanatory adjustment to the hegemonic concept of internationalism. This is a response to an exploratory study by Francis Onditi, published by the Futures, ‘Futuring an “Inclusive Knowledge Futures” Framework beyond IR Theories’, aimed at elucidating Afrocentric international studies scholars’ understanding of Africa’s futures that emboldens both local and global value systems. In the current article, ‘interlocalization’ is defined as a process of (re)creating a seamless linkage between African local epistemologies (ujamaa) and international knowledge systems. In this system of knowledge production and consumption, institutions and debates shift from the national scale to the global scale and downwards to the local level. In this proliferation and restless knowledge scaling, it remains blurred, whether the local African epistemologies and knowledge networks are capable of becoming simultaneously more globalized and transnational? In this article, we utilize gaming model to theoretically simulate the ‘positivity’ and ‘negativity’ of the attributes that build up a mutual global system and international order.
Gender equality as a means to women empowerment? Consensus, challenges and prospects for post-2015 development agenda in Africa
(African Geographical Review, 2016-04-22) Francis Onditi; Josephine Odera
In this paper, we have examined gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE) as reﬂected in the millennium development goals (MDGs) as well as the conceptualization and localization of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The paper adopts Amartya Sen’s women agency conceptual framework to advance the thesis of this article that while there is general consensus on achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment, the MDGs adopted in 2001 fell far short of fulﬁlling this consensus and that the incoming SDGs must respond to fundamental issues of GEWE from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives. This paper addresses the issues of conceptualization, context, and design of MDGs and how lessons learnt in its implementation inform SDGs. The question is, will GEWE maintain any pride of place? Analysis in the paper reveals that qualitative indicators such as human rights, equity, and capabilities were silent in the MDG design, constructs, and implementation. The paper suggests that the understanding and putting in place of mechanisms for continuous assessment of the human-centered indicators, such as quality of life, as part of the SDGs’ localization efforts portend increasing effectiveness of SDGs toward addressing gender-sensitive issues of social exclusion, inequality, and resource distribution, which have a great bearing on sustainable development.
How urban informality can inform response to pandemics (COVID-19): A research agenda for the future.
(History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, 2021-01-12) Francis Onditi; Israel Nyaburi Nyadera; Moses Madadi Obimbo; Samson Kinyanjui Muchina
In the era of increasingly defined ontological insecurity and uncertainty driven by the ravages of COVID-19, urban informal settlement has emerged as a source of resilience. Indeed, the effects of a pandemic transcends its epidemiological characteristics to political economy and societal resilience. If resilience is the capacity of a system to adapt successfully to significant challenges that threaten the function or development of the human society, then ontological insecurity is about the lack of such capacity. Drawing on Keith Hartian’s understanding of ‘informality’ of spaces, this policy brief attempts to identify and frame a research agenda for the future. The agenda would assist future researchers and policymakers provide responses that appropriately recognize groups and actors that define the urban informal space.
Introducing RICAAF as a new model for managing the proliferation of actors in Africa’s peace operation
(Africa Insight, 2019-12) Francis Onditi
This paper presents a mechanism for fostering decision-making symmetry in actor-prolific peace support operations (PSOs) environments in Africa. Experience and research on the subject of actors’ cooperation or lack of it in peace operations indicate ambiguity and lack of functional guidelines. In what seems to be a deliberate move, the military are often ‘blind’ to other actors operating in the area, and their cooperation is frequently supply-based rather than demand-driven. The multi-actor approach to deployment in PSO does not always correspond directly with the doctrine of each group. Additionally, there is no direct correlation between the military and civilian approaches: rules and procedures are interpreted differently. This leads to disunity of purpose in the field, increasing resentment between groups and prolonged conflict. It is from the analysis of this combination of the structure of actors and the organisational challenges of the African PSO formations that lessons aimed at enhancing response to conflict converge into what I coin as the Rim-Centre Actors Analytic Framework (RICAAF). I conclude that this alternative model (RICAAF) should be given serious consideration by the institutions mandated with the responsibility of ensuring continental peace and security (African Union and the regional economic communities), in pursuit of the call for ‘African solutions to African problems.’
Introduction to the Special Issue: Women, Leadership, and Peace in Africa
(African Conflict and Peacebuilding Review,, 2017) Nic Cheeseman; Francis Onditi; Cristina D'Alessandro
Are women empowered enough to make peace in Africa? Despite over two decades of multiparty politics, the answer appears to be “no,” if we start by looking at the formal political realm. In general, women remain marginalized within African political systems. To date, there have only been three female presidents (i.e., not including “acting” presidents) on the continent since the reintroduction of multiparty politics in the early 1990s: Ellen Sirleaf Johnson in Liberia, Joyce Banda in Malawi, and Bibi Ameenah Firdaus Gurib-Fakim in Mauritius. Of these three, only two—Sirleaf Johnson and Gurib-Fakim—secured their position by winning an election (Joyce Banda assumed power after Bingu wa Mutharika died in office and lost the next general election). In many countries, the picture at the legislative level is similarly bleak. In 2015, there were many countries in Africa in which women made up less than 10% of members of parliament. For example, that year only 5.6% of the Nigerian legislature was female (Tripp forthcoming).
Modeling a Pandemic (COVID‑19) Management Strategy for Urban Slums Using Social Geometry Framework
(The European Journal of Development Research, 2020-10-26) Francis Onditi; Moses Madadi Obimbo; Samson Kinyanjui Muchina; Israel Nyaburi Nyadera
The purpose of this paper is to utilize social geometry framework to model a pandemic (COVID-19) management strategy in densely populated informal settlements in Kenya. Our central claim is that the containment strategy that was instituted to control spread of COVID-19 failed to recognize the socio-cultural and livelihood complexities of the urban slum residents. This unmitigated strategy predisposed the residents to risks of heightened transmission of the pandemic. Drawing on social geometry approach in the analysis of human relations, we reveal some insights offered by our experiences in theorizing about public health intervention (PHI) and in doing so develop an alternative analytical framework (‘social pendulum’) to support the development of a PHI strategy that is compatible with the swing-like lifestyle of residents in the informal settlements. Our conclusion revisits the reliability and validity criteria for the new framework and offers some direction for further research.
Multidimensionalism or Militarism? A Decade of Experimentation in African Peace Support Operations
(The African Solutions Journal (AfSol Journal), 2018-05) Francis Onditi
The relationship between the military, police, and civilians within the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) has, at times, been characterised by considerable tensions and mistrust. This bears direct implications on the effectiveness of the African Union to promote peace and stability on the continent. This article explores the evolution of the African Standby Force (ASF) based on case studies of the Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF) and ECOWAS Standby Force (ESF) to understand why and how the 2015 bench mark for achieving ASF’s full operation capability did not happen. The article argues that, with regard to the uncertainty surrounding the evolution of the ASF, it is not enough to focus solely on the macro-level factors affecting the evolution of ASF. Instead, internal processes and structures such as the attitude of peacekeepers to each other is, without doubt, an inseparable part of the ‘sluggishness’ in the realization of a rapid deployment capability (RDC). It is, therefore, more appropriate to consider the role of internal processes and civil-military power relations in the evolution of the ASF.
New Book: Ideas and Actionable Steps for Scaling Africa’s Blue Economy Strategy
(The Thinker a Pan-African Quarterly for Thought Leaders, 2021-06-10) Francis Onditi; Douglas Yates; Narnia Bohler-Muller
Illusions of Location Theory: Consequences for Blue Economy in Africa, a new book edited by Dr. Francis Onditi and Prof. Douglas Yates, with a foreword by Prof. Narnia Bohler-Muller, is finally published and can now be ordered from global leading platforms, including Amazon.
New Possibilities for a PeacefulDigital Society in ViolencePrevalent Geographies
(Journal of Peacebuilding& Development, 2020-09-24) Francis Onditi
In recent years, scholars and practitioners alike have discussed technology and its relationship with peace building and development. This debate has proffered clarity on how the lack of technology can aggravate underdevelopment and violent conflict. However, although this relationship has informed the evolving discourse over what constitutes a digital society, in practice, application of technology without considering human security dimensions can be counterproductive. To address this dilemma, the article draws upon lessons from the implementation of peace building and development initiatives from Kenya’s conflict hotspot zones to propose a typology for bridging the divide between the desirable and disruptive attributes of technology. As a result, a cyclical relationship is designed to create an alternative analytical framework for reimagining the ecosystem of a peaceful digital society, herein coined technology for peaceful society (T4PS). Finally, some broader implications of the new model for scholars and practitioners involved in peace building and development activities are suggested.
Policy and research frame of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic: reflections on urban informality
(Global Health Journal, 2021-03) Israel Nyaburi Nyadera; Francis Onditi; Moses Madadi Obimbo; Samson Kinyanjui Muchina
How has the informality of urban slums exposed a gap in policy formulation and research questions in the wake of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic? This paper seeks to identify the appropriate questions and policy frame that would assist future researchers and policymakers on the subject of pandemics in densely populated urban settlements. The authors argue that the nexus between asking the appropriate questions and developing appropriate policy response measures during a pandemic can significantly impact the outcome of the response. The paper examines how the government of Kenya’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic reveals a deep-rooted socio-economic and cultural inequality when “blanket” policies are adopted without taking into consideration the unique dynamics characterizing the society. The findings show that the effectiveness of implementing COVID-19 containment policies such as lockdowns, the cession of movement, working from home, distance learning, and social distancing are affected by other factors such as the nature of jobs, one’s income levels, where someone lives, cultural beliefs, access to water, sanitation, internet, and medical facilities. This means that a significant number of people within the society experience a double tragedy from the pandemic and impact of government response measures. Yet most of the existing literature has focused on the causes, spread, and impact of the pandemic on health institutions, economies, and public health with little emphasis on the impact on policy measures especially on the vulnerable segments of the society. This paper, therefore, looks at the question of how the various public health intervention strategies disrupt or construct the livelihood of the already complex informal settlement. It provides policymakers and researchers with a number of questions that can frame policy and research during a pandemic with important consideration to urban informality.
Politics of African Peace Support OperationArchitecture: What next post-2015 African StandbyForce?
(African Studies, 2017-09-15) Francis Onditi; Pontian G. Okoth
Peace support operation (PSO) institutions were established to support the African peace and security architecture in developing integrated capacities (civilian, police and military) for deployment in crisis situations. This institutional development is part of the transition from the Organisation of African Unity to the African Union (AU) within the Constitutive Act of 2000. Drawing from both operational and strategic challenges facing African Standby Force structures, this article explores the implications of civil-military dissonance on the attainment of integrated capacities, post-2015 peace and security arrangement. The study posits that whereas the PSO institutions have made significant gains in increasing their regional visibility, tensions between the military and civilians systematically edges out the latter from the centre of decision-making. Moreover, while AU bureaucrats superficially assert that PSO institutions have made efforts towards developing integrated capacities, cogent and deeper analysis shows this is not the case; instead the heightened civil-military tension is a reflection of decision-making dilemmas facing both the military executives and political elites. The article concludes by proposing a review of African PSO norms, doctrines, and policies in order to develop an incremental strategy towards achieving full operational capacity that is inclusive of civilians and police.
Power-sharing Consociationalism in resolving South Sudan’s ethnopolitical conflict in the post- Comprehensive Peace Agreement era
(African Journal on Conflict Resolution, 2023-08-17) Francis Onditi; Kizito Sabala; Samson Wassara
This article uses Arend Lijphart’s notion of ‘power-sharing Consociationalism’ to understand the mutually reinforcing conflict system and the barriers to resolving such conflicts in South Sudan. ‘Consociationalism’ has been affirmed as an ideal approach for resolving conflicts in ethnically divided societies, but in South Sudan, the formal institutions of power sharing have not delivered sustainable peace. Analysis in this article reveals that the implementation of the various ‘peace agreements’ and ‘deals’ deviated from classical ‘Consociationalism’. Consequently limited attention was paid to inter-ethnic tensions and too much emphasis was placed on the mechanics of power sharing among the executive and military institutions, leading to the proliferation of ‘organised political movements’. Rather than focusing on the mechanics of power sharing, a viable consociational model for South Sudan should concentrate on how such multifaceted layers of issues can be accommodated within a single settlement. Therefore, the South Sudan conflict system requires a stronger reconceptualisation of issues. Hence we have coined the term ‘tragedy of ethnic diversity’, not as a replacement of the well-known concept of ‘resource curse’, but as new thinking that might shape future research and scholarship in the increasingly complex South Sudan conflict system.

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