African Interest

Brief Summary Soldiers in Revolt examines the understudied phenomenon of military mutinies in Africa. Through interviews with former mutineers in Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, and The Gambia, the book provides a unique and intimate perspective on those who take the risky decision to revolt. This view from the lower ranks is key to comprehending the internal struggles that can threaten a military's ability to function effectively. Maggie Dwyer's detailed accounts of specific revolts are complemented by an original dataset of West African mutinies covering more than fifty years, allowing for the identification of trends. Her book shows the complex ways mutineers often formulate and interpret their grievances against a backdrop of domestic and global politics. Just as mutineers have been influenced by the political landscape, so too have they shaped it. Mutinies have challenged political and military leaders, spurred social unrest, led to civilian casualties, threatened peacekeeping efforts and, in extreme cases, resulted in international interventions. Soldiers in Revolt offers a better understanding of West African mutinies and mutinies in general, valuable not only for military studies but for anyone interested in the complex dynamics of African states. ISBN:9780190876074 Author:Maggie Dwyer

Brief Summary Drawing on hundreds of interviews with protagonists from Congo, Rwanda, Angola, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Africa, Belgium, France, the UK and the US, 'Why Comrades Go to War' offers a theoretical and empirical account of Africa's Great War. It argues that the seeds of Africa's Great War were sown in the revolutionary struggle against Mobutu - the way the revolution came together, the way it was organized, and, paradoxically, the very way it succeeded. In particular, the work argues that the overthrow of Mobutu proved a Pyrrhic victory because the protagonists ignored the philosophy of Julius Nyerere, the father of Africa's liberation movements. ISBN:9780190686581 Author:Philip G. Roessler and Harry Verhoeven

Brief Summary After the Cold War, Africa earned the dubious distinction of being the world's most bloody continent. But how can we explain this proliferation of armed conflicts? What caused them and what were their main characteristics? And what did the world's governments do to stop them? In this fully revised and updated second edition of his popular text, Paul Williams offers an in-depth and wide-ranging assessment of more than six hundred armed conflicts which took place in Africa from 1990 to the present day - from the continental catastrophe in the Great Lakes region to the sprawling conflicts across the Sahel and the web of wars in the Horn of Africa. Taking a broad comparative approach to examine the political contexts in which these wars occurred, he explores the major patterns of organized violence, the key ingredients that provoked them and the major international responses undertaken to deliver lasting peace. Part I, Contexts provides an overview of the most important attempts to measure the number, scale and location of Africa's armed conflicts and provides a conceptual and political sketch of the terrain of struggle upon which these wars were waged. Part II, Ingredients analyses the role of five widely debated features of Africa's wars: the dynamics of neopatrimonial systems of governance; the construction and manipulation of ethnic identities; questions of sovereignty and self-determination; as well as the impact of natural resources and religion. Part III, Responses, discusses four major international reactions to Africa's wars: attempts to build a new institutional architecture to help promote peace and security on the continent; this architecture's two main policy instruments, peacemaking initiatives and peace operations; and efforts to develop the continent. War and Conflict in Africa will be essential reading for all students of international peace and security studies as well as Africa's international relations. ISBN:9781509509041 Author:Paul D. Williams

Brief Summary Nowhere in the world is the demand for peace more prominent and challenging than in Africa. This book presents the first comprehensive overview of conflict and peace across the continent. Bringing together a range of leading academics from Africa and beyond, Peace and Conflict in Africa is an ideal introduction to key themes of conflict resolution, peacebuilding, security and development. The book's stress on the importance of indigenous African approaches to creating peace makes it an innovative and exciting intervention in the field. ISBN:9781842779545 Author:David J. Francis

Brief Summary This book reveals the many creative solutions an African society found for problems that people encounter when they try to establish a democratic system of governing their affairs. In much of what has been written about Africa, the common image is that of people governed by primitive customs and practices, in which only feudal roles of elders, kings, chiefs, sultans, and emirs have been acknowledged by Western observers. Little is ever shown of indigenous African democratic systems, under which there is distribution of authority and responsibility across various strata of society, and where warriors are subordinated to deliberative assemblies, customary laws are revised periodically by a national convention, and elected leaders are limited to a single eight-year terms of office and subjected to public review in the middle of their term. All these ideals and more are enshrined in the five-century old constitution of the Oromo of Ethiopia, which is the subject matter of this book. In this book, Legesse brings into sharp focus the polysepalous or "multi-headed" system of government of the Oromo, which is based on clearly defined division of labor and checks and balances between different institutions. Revealing the inherent dynamism and sophistication of this indigenous African political system, Legasse also shows in clear and lucid language that the system has had a long and distinguished history, during which the institutions changed by deliberate legislation, and evolved and adapted with time. ISBN:9781569021392 Author:Asmarom Legesse

Brief summary Rwanda, Inc.: How a Devastated Nation Became an Economic Model for the Developing World Nearly two decades after Rwanda's horrific genocide, the country has been transformed. High rises are going up in the capital city of Kigali; a newly established stock exchange is attracting investors; and the economy is transitioning from subsistence agriculture to information and communication technology. In pursuit of the alchemy that made Rwanda such an unlikely success story, Patricia Crisafulli and Andrea Redmond interviewed Rwandan government officials, including current president Paul Kagame, as well as business leaders, foreign investors, NGOs, and everyday civilians. In Rwanda, Inc. they look at the key factors that allowed this tiny country to beat the odds?including Rwanda's efforts to encourage private sector development and foster entrepreneurship, and how Kagame's unique leadership approach led to gains in health, education, and food sustainability. They also explore what the future holds for this resilient nation, and the steps it's taking to develop the next generation of public servants. With so many eyes on Africa as nations rebuild in the wake of the Arab Spring, this is a timely and fascinating look at what other emerging democracies can learn from Rwanda's triumph. ISBN:9781501175510 Author:Patricia Crisafulli and Andrea Redmond

Brief Summary This is the extraordinary first-person account of a young woman's coming of age in Somalia and her struggles against the obligations and strictures of family and society. By the time she is nine, Aman has undergone a ritual circumcision ceremony; at eleven, her innocent romance with a white boy leads to a murder; at thirteen she is given away in an arranged marriage to a stranger. Aman eventually runs away to Mogadishu, where her beauty and rebellious spirit leads her to the decadent demimonde of white colonialists. Hers is a world in which women are both chattel and freewheeling entrepreneurs, subject to the caprices of male relatives, yet keenly aware of the loopholes that lead to freedom. Aman is an astonishing history, opening a window onto traditional Somali life and the universal quest for female self-awareness. ISBN:9780679762096 Author:Virginia Lee Barnes and Janice Boddy

Brief Summary This highly informative work digs into the intricate history of Sudanese politics. Lesch brings a welcome clarity to Sudan's tangle of political, ethnic, and religious problems by concentrating on the country's central dilemma: the inability of its leaders to negotiate a common definition of nationhood." ?Foreign Affairs ... the first correct account of what took place... after independence." ?Robert O. Collins The Sudan is torn by ethnic and religious conflict, centered on the struggle over the definition of the Sudanese nation-state. Is the Sudan primarily Arab or African by culture and ethnicity? Should the political system privilege Islamic legal codes or accord equal citizenship to persons of all faiths? Ann Mosely Lesch provides a comprehensive and even-handed analysis of the unresolved struggle for a stable political system and a unified national identity. ISBN:9780253212276 Author:Ann Mosely Lesch