The Handbook of African Defence and Armed Forces, published in April 2025 by Oxford University Press, provides the first in-depth and multifaceted analysis of the evolution and current state of national defence policies, strategies, doctrines, capabilities, security challenges, and strategic responses of African states and their armed forces.

The Handbook draws together contributions from forty-nine contributors, including scholars from universities across the world - from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Zambia, to Europe, the UK and Qatar - and research informed practitioners from institutions including the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Ghana, the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Department of Military and Strategic Studies at the United States Air Force Academy, and the Ministry of National Defence and Security of Eswatini.

The Handbook is edited by two CWD researchers, Professor Marco Wyss, the CWD's Deputy Director and Professor of International History and Security at Lancaster University, and Professor Evert Kleynhans, CWD Honorary Researcher and Associate Professor in the Department of Military History at the Faculty of Military Science, Stellenbosch University.

The Handbook examines African defence and security at the national, sub-regional, and regional levels, against the backdrop of the 'superpower withdrawal' from the continent in the 1990s, and the so-called 'New Scramble for Africa', which has seen a crescendo of renewed great power interest in the continent's resources, as well as its strategic role, location, and relevance since the 2000s.

Prof. Marco Wyss said: 'in light of the significant security challenges Africa has been facing, and the key roles of African armed forces in addressing them, it is essential to gain a thorough and comprehensive understanding of African defence.'

'The Handbook is', he emphasised, 'a real CWD team effort, since it is co-edited with Prof. Evert Kleynhans from Stellenbosch University, who is also an Honorary Researcher of our Centre.'

The book takes a bottom-up and African-centric approach, and is organized around five key themes: i) the differing security outlooks and defence policies of African powers within the region and the different sub-regions; ii) the strategies, doctrines, transformation, and employment of African armed forces; iii) the relationship between African armed forces with sub-regional, regional, and international organizations; iv) the challenges that African states and their armed forces have been facing and their strategic responses; and v) the position of African perspectives and agency in the context of continental and international security and defence.

Understanding African security and defence, especially in terms of each individual nation's ability to contribute to peacekeeping operations, counterterrorism, border security, and internal security requires a focus on the national level of armed forces and defence policies; this in turns sheds light on sub-regional and regional divergences, challenges, and cooperation. Based on this framework, the chapters in the volume offer comprehensive African perspectives on African and international security and defence, and in doing so show the agency of the continent's countries and armed forces in International Security and Relations.

Read more about the Handbook and its contributors on the Oxford University Press website.