A PHENOMENOLOGICAL CRITIQUE OF WESTERN SECURITY THEORY AND THE COLONIAL FOUNDATIONS OF INSECURITY
The dominant security paradigms in international relations—realism, liberalism, and constructivism, were forged in the crucible of European and American history, yet they presume conditions that Africa does not share. This failure has had tangible consequences: decades of liberal peacebuilding interventions have failed to produce sustainable peace, while the "failed state" narrative has obscured the ongoing harms of colonial extraction. This article offers a phenomenological critique of these Western security theories, arguing that they fail to account for the lived reality of insecurity in Africa. Methodologically, this article employs a qualitative, interdisciplinary approach comprising three interconnected components: (1) phenomenological analysis, which centres the subjective, lived experience of insecurity; (2) decolonial critique, which challenges the epistemic violence of Western knowledge systems and centres African epistemologies; and (3) illustrative case study analysis of Sudan/South Sudan, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Mali—selected for their diverse regions (East, West, Central, and Sahelian Africa), distinct colonial histories (British, French, and Belgian), and varying configurations of identitybased conflict and external intervention. The analysis draws on African philosophy (Ramose, Gyekye, Menkiti), decolonial scholarship (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Fredua-Mensah), and critical security studies (Mbembe, Bayart, Kalu). The article demonstrates that the colonial foundations of the African state, arbitrary borders, extractive institutions, and violent governance—are not historical relics but active structures that continue to shape African insecurity. Through concrete examples from the four case studies, it illustrates how the "failed state" narrative functions as a neo-colonial discourse that perpetuates rather than resolves insecurity. The article argues that a phenomenological approach, rooted in lived experience and indigenous wisdom, offers a more effective framework for understanding and addressing Africa's security challenges. It further demonstrates that Ubuntu provides a relational ontology of security that challenges the individualistic assumptions of Western theory. The article concludes by proposing a decolonized African security philosophy grounded in Ubuntu and the politics of recognition as an alternative to Western-imposed security models, with concrete implications for policymakers, scholars, and practitioners.
Keywords: phenomenology, African security, colonialism, Ubuntu, failed state, decoloniality, lived experience, case study analysis, qualitative methodology