What Is Security? An African Security Perspective

As indicated above, essential to any security study are the three questions, what is security, security for whom and what constitutes a security issue. In effect, this chapter uses existing literature to situate the understanding of security in the African context. It also answers the question of security for whom by suggesting the adoption of different referents for security at different levels. However, it is argued that security levels are interdependent. Empirical evidence from Cameroon is used to exemplify the complexity and contested nature of the concept of security. The subsequent chapters then focus on the third security question, which addresses inherent security challenges.