Just War Theory and the Question of Terrorism in Modern Africa: Which Way Forward?

Abstract

The preponderance of terrorist groups or non state actors is becoming a very serious threat to the security of modern African states. The rationalization of these acts has therefore received the attention of scholars within and outside the academia. In international ethics for instance, ‘just war theory’ appears to be the most developed and widely used criterion for explaining the ‘rightness’ or otherwise of violence. Besides, there seem to be no universally accepted definition of terrorism. History shows that any form of violence could be legitimate and must not necessarily be the type organised by state actors alone. Therefore, it is the position of this paper that violence perpetrated by state and non state actors should be morally and legally justified without any form of discrimination. The actions of terrorist groups must be assessed on the same conditions used for state actors. The paper concludes that it is only when the above mentioned conditions are fully implemented and genuine democracy or democratization takes its full grip on the African continent  that a reduction and a positive management of the activities of the  so-called terrorist groups can be realised.

Keywords: Africa, Democracy, Terrorism, State and War.