Part One: Introduction
Peace and war
are matters of insecurity. Living with insecurity is the only security,
perhaps for those who studied War! Even in the most hospitable
circumstances, the human condition is precarious because we are all
unavoidably exposed. Human nature is flawed, and perfect security cannot
exist in any human society. Yet to be forgotten even when you may not
like him is Hobbes’ ‘state of nature,’ every human being is a potential
threat because the struggle for survival in a world of limited resources
is a ‘war of all against all,’ Hobbes thought that putting a government
in place is an excellent way of guaranteeing security!
In a world without a government to enforce order – a
condition that Hobbes calls the state of nature – every human must be
vigilant against threats to survival. A world without Government, he
claims, forces humanity into a constant state of war because there is no
way to trust in the excellent or peaceful intentions of others. We must
always be on our guard lest we be attacked. This condition – in which
no ruler or judge can resolve disputes and establish security – is
anarchy. In an anarchic world, Hobbes argues that our lives must revolve
around survival, leaving no time for agriculture, the arts, or sciences
conditions of anarchy; Hobbes says, ‘the life of man [is] solitary,
poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
But does having a government in the last twenty years
make a difference? This is because and according to me, the Nigeria Boko
Haram insurgency underscores the Hobbesian thesis of man’s
aggressiveness in the state of nature that requires the leviathan’s
intervention. The Nigerian Government’s failure to provide public goods
led to the emergence of the Boko Haram insurgency. The citizens contest
their rights to life (now in danger), withdrawing their loyalty and
support from the Government and the Armed forces. A praxis explains the
power shift from the Nigerian Government to the identified local group
(Boko Haram). The shift accompanies ongoing violence between soldiers
and the insurgents resulting in mass civilian casualties, genocide,
systemic rape, and unquantifiable property destruction fostering human
insecurity. The above narrative makes the statement relevant that
studying and knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security!
Insecurity is pervasive in the international realm. For
instance, the international system is anarchic, and no single authority
can remit uncertainty. We move from the dynamics of abuse of power as we
saw in Darfur, where Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was charged by
the International Criminal Court (ICC) with war crimes against humanity.
The violence has also forced some 2.5 million people − mostly farmers
and villagers from non-Arab groups – to flee their homes. So was the
American-led Illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003 to the insecurity creation
of intervention and collision of the value of security paradigms in
human, national and geocentric systems-the intervention in Iraq (1990),
Bosnia (1995), and Afghanistan (2001) were intended to preserve the
territorial status quo and restore sovereign control to legitimate
governments. (In Kuwait, Sarajevo, and Kabul), intervention in Kosovo
(1999) was intended to protect the Kosovar (Albanian) minority even at
the risk of partitioning the (rump) federal Yugoslav state
(Serbia-Montenegro).
All are empirical evidence of insecurity globally. Issues
of the ongoing killing by Boko Haram and collaboration of the insurgent
with the new formation of the Islamic State West Africa Province
(ISWAP) and its expanding activities in the West Africa Sub-region.
(Where Boko Haram killed the President of Chad recently) forcefully
explaining the failure of the leviathan to protect citizens and himself!
in developing countries, what is more, is the powerful justification
for our new concern that How to live with insecurity is the only
security at least known in the West African sub-region.
Is peace the opposite of War? See part two of this
article. Again, is Niger a sovereign state to which intervention can be
made impossible? What option, war or peace? and is sovereignty, not
hypocrisy? See part three of this article. If you miss any part, send an
email requesting the missing part to my University of Cambridge life
email address [email protected]
Jimoh Ibrahim holds PhD in Modern War Studies and just
completed BSc in International Relations (Second Class Upper Division)
from the London School of Economics LSE, the University of London. He
holds nine other University degrees from the University of Cambridge,
Oxford, Harvard, Ife etc. He is currently at the 10th National Assembly
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a Senator representing Ondo South
senatorial district.
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