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Sign up for our monthly email alertsArmed Conflict in Africa
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SUBJECTS
Military Studies » Military History
Reference » History
History » African History
Area Studies » African Studies
History » Military History
Reference » Military & Intelligence Studies
REVIEWS
"The nine contributors to this volume examine the history of recent armed conflicts on the continent, each from different perspectives. Most address why Africa has been affected by what appears to be a rising tide of violence in recent times....Offers prescriptions or at least provides a framework for considering what would have to change to bring about a diminishment of these conflicts....The editors have collected a valuable set of maps in one of the appendices. Especially for those conflicts that took place before the days of internet and the extensive and detailed reports of the United Nations NGO's....Several of the chapters, when taken together, offer good examples of different explanations for causes of conflict in Africa."
— AFRICAN STUDIES QUARTERLY
DESCRIPTION
Armed Conflict in Africa addresses two core questions: why has Africa been so sorely afflicted by violence in modern times and what can be done to bring about a more peaceful future? These questions are of obvious importance. Since the end of the Cold War, Africa has experienced more armed conflicts and endured more direct and indirect casualties of war than any other continent. The violence has been both pervasive and brutal. During the last decade of the twentieth century, endemic violence has played a key role in inhibiting social and political progress and preventing Africans from experiencing the unprecedented economic growth that so many other peoples enjoyed. Allowing these problems to fester can only lead to further problems in the new millennium.
The purpose of this work is to encourage its readers to face rather than evade the problem of war and to encourage critical and creative thinking about these vital concerns. The book fills a gap in contemporary scholarship on Africa by offering a multi-disciplinary examination of the roots of conflict and suggesting a range of possible solutions. The eight contributing authors are well-respected thinkers originating from a number of different countries. Some are scholars while others have been active in public life. They have been trained in a variety of academic disciplines and have very different approaches and interpretations. The book has thematic coherence but is not informed by any single ideology or methodology. Rather, it seeks to stimulate critical analysis by presenting the reader with conflicting perspectives resting on the assumption that the first step on the road to problem solving is to understand the problem. The book focuses first on analysis of the roots of conflict and then on conflict resolution.
ABOUT THE EDITORS
Carolyn Pumphrey is currently Coordinator for the Triangle Institute for Security Studies and for Duke University's Program in Asian Security Studies and teaches history at North Carolina State University. Her research interests are in the history of restraints on war. Rye M. Schwartz-Barcott is an active duty officer in the U.S. Marine Corps and President and Founder of Carolina For Kibera, Inc. (CFK), a Democracy and Human Rights Program of the University Center for International Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) that is supported, in part, by the Ford Foundation and World Bank.
