Organised hypocrisy as a pattern of behaviour in the African Union’s Peace and Security Architecture : the solemn declaration to ‘Silence the guns in Africa by 2020’

Abstract

A critical challenge arises when intergovernmental organisations are managed hypocritically at the expense of existing policy frameworks. The AU is recognised as having the most extensive continental peace and security institutions. However, conflict has remained a perennial issue in Africa and it is unlikely that the deadline that the organisation set to bring an end to violent conflict will be met by December 2020. Mainstream literature has provided challenges such as lack of political will, lack of resources or lack of opportunity as a few of the reasons why the AU suffers lack of implementation at times. However, the underutilised theory of organised hypocrisy aims to point out the structural, institutional incoherence which cause the organisation not to behave as expected.

Organised Hypocrisy is no moral judgement, rather it is an evaluation of the relationship between organisational structures and institutions which enable or disable the organisation to deliver on the promises it makes. Organised hypocrisy allows the AU to continue to operate even in unfavourable circumstances, such as continuing to exist on a large proportion of external funding, disharmony and disingenuity among member states or unclear organisational cooperation and coordination within the organisation, subunits, and partners.

Guided by the theory Organised Hypocrisy, this study uses process tracing as a method of inquiry to form an empirical basis for the analysis of the ways in which the AU did not behave as expected which may have promoted or prevented the achievement of the promise to Silence The Guns in Africa by 2020. Using the case of Burundi and citations of other cases of intervention in the African Union, the organisation does not yet have the operational capacity required to deliver on the promises. The organisational culture and the behaviour of member states do not cohere with all the principles of the AU and its predecessor; they are the biggest enemy of progress in the AU.