Introduction: The African Security Regime Complex—Exploring Converging Actors and Policies

This article formulates the conceptual framework for a special issue on Africa's evolving security architecture. It argues that security governance in Africa can be understood as an emerging regime complex that is characterized by partially converging actors such as the United Nations, European Union, African Union, African Regional Economic Communities, and single lead nations. Center stage is the analysis of converging security policies. We distinguish between five convergence types that vary in terms of depth and efficacy. Theoretically the special issue makes a contribution to theory building on regime complexes and international organizations interplay by developing a theoretical typology. This introductory article primarily serves to introduce concepts and categories.