Perception of Violence in International Relations, African Example

Abstract

This paper offers a broad retrospective on the experience of violence in international relations in Africa. It advances several evidences to explain why the history of international relations had such a chequered history of international violence Increasing rate of violence within and among nation states have led to the widening of inequality gap between the poor and the rich countries of the world such that the campaign for liberal democracy by developed societies is now used as a tool to give human face to their imperial exploitation and domination. This condition that places moral burden on the acclaimed relevance of international relations. The international conditions which confirm the difficulty of this project also underscore its necessity. The breakdown of European colonial empires and the increasing importance of the great powers to mould international affairs have resulted in an unruly world which contains a large number of small, youthful nations with little experience in self-government and less in international affairs. These nations, often poor and frequently squabbling are the scene of enormous human suffering resulting from natural causes, human incompetence, or old-fashioned greed and viciousness. The great powers themselves contribute in various ways to human anguish, not least by maintaining the threat of nuclear war.