AUTHOR=Hassan Hamdy A. 
  
TITLE=Rethinking African security in the anthropocene: an alternative framework
  
JOURNAL=Frontiers in Political Science
  
VOLUME=Volume 8 - 2026
  
YEAR=2026
  
URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/political-science/articles/10.3389/fpos.2026.1841303
  
DOI=10.3389/fpos.2026.1841303
  
ISSN=2673-3145
  
ABSTRACT=IntroductionTraditional approaches to African security often treat neocolonialism, governance failures, and terrorism as isolated issues, obscuring their systemic interconnections under Anthropocene conditions of human-induced environmental change. This study argues that African security should be reconceptualized in light of climate change, resource depletion, and ecosystem degradation, as these dynamics reshape the continent’s collective security arrangements.MethodsThis research combines critical analysis of African collective security mechanisms, focusing on the African Union and the African Peace and Security Architecture, with qualitative evidence from 15 unstructured interviews conducted in Mali, Nigeria, and Egypt between July and October 2025. Thematic qualitative content analysis was conducted manually to trace the interactions among environmental stressors, external funding patterns, and local governance practices within specific security contexts.ResultsThe analysis shows that climate and environmental stressors are significant security multipliers, intensifying grievances tied to marginalization, governance deficits, and economic precarity. It also shows that the African Union’s collective security instruments remain heavily dependent on external funding, reinforcing Western-centric, state-focused paradigms and privileging militarized responses over preventive, locally grounded strategies.DiscussionThese findings suggest that African security thinking must move beyond externally driven, securitized models toward endogenous frameworks that reflect the lived realities of the Anthropocene. Such frameworks should incorporate local practices and knowledge systems, strengthen regional solidarity, and prioritize human dignity, ecosystem resilience, and hybrid governance arrangements as foundational principles for sustainable stability across the continent.