Attuquayefio, P.2020-02-252020-02-252015-04-17http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh/handle/123456789/34957School of social sciences colloquiumThe rubrics for security policy making in Africa since independence have been largely dictated by a confluence of intern al and external factors. These have included the country's colonial heritage; the Cold War and its vestiges at some point; post-independence governance dynamics that manifested in political instability and the inability of successive regimes to adequately define the boundaries between regime and state security. In all these the object has oscillated from maintaining the territorial integrity of the polity, to ensuring sovereignty both from an internal and external dimension. Consequently, the concept of National Security has provided the framework as well as serve as the lynchpin for security policy making. With the growing reality of population-centered threats worldwide, human security considerations are becoming sine qua non for effective security policy making globally. Within the African context, this demands the recalibration of the understanding and implementation of security policy. This paper traces the development of security policies in Africa and juxtaposes it by contemporary realities in security consideration. This is aimed at justifying the need for population centeredness in the consideration of securityenrubricsCold Warpolitical instabilityregimestate securityOther