This volume is an attempt to analyse the causes of violent conflict in Africa, to review the various approaches to conflict prevention and conflict resolution and to discuss some of the practical difficulties in ending violence. It brings together a wide range of scholars and practitioners, with specialist knowledge of a large number of African countries. The intention here is to provide a survey of the various approaches to conflict in Africa, a systematic discussion of some of the root causes of violence, as well as case studies on the consequences of violence and the effects of conflict resolution.
Ulf Engel, Dr. phil. habil. (1999), Dr. phil. (1994) in Political Science, University of Hamburg, is Associate Professor at the University of Leipzig. His work includes
Africa and the North (Routledge, 2005) and
Die Afrikapolitik der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1949-1999 (Lit-Verlag, 2002).
Anna Maria Gentili, is Professor of History and Institutions of Afro-Asian Countries at the University of Bologna. Major publications include
Elites e Regimi politici in Africa Occidentale (1974),
Africa come storia (1980) and
Il Leone e il cacciatore. Storia dell’Africa subsahariana (1995).
Patrick Chabal, is a Professor in the University of London. His latest books are
Africa Works (1999),
A History of Postcolonial Lusophone Africa (2002) and
Power in Africa (1994). He will publish in 2005 a book on culture and politics.
Contents
Introduction
Violence, Power and Rationality: A Political Analysis of Conflict in Contemporary Africa
Patrick Chabal
Part One
Explaining Conflict and Understanding Conflict Prevention in Africa
1 Angola and the Theory of War
Christopher Cramer
2 Ethnicity and Citizenship in Sub Saharan Africa
Anna-Maria Gentili
3 Natural Resources, Scarcity and Conflict: a Perspective from Below
Mirjam de Bruijn & Han van Dijk
4 Empirical Perspectives on African Conflict Resolution
Klaas van Walraven
5 Area Studies, the Analysis of Conflict and the Evaluation of Preventive Practice in Africa
Andreas Mehler
Part Two
Managing Conflict and Implementing Conflict Resolution in Africa
6 The Social Cost of Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Theodore Trefon
7 Assessing Africa’s two-phase Peace Implementation Process: Power-sharing and Democratization
Donald Rothchild
8 Administrative Decentralisation and Political Conflict in Mali
Gerti Hesseling & Han van Dijk
9 Principles for Conflict Transformation: Practicioners in Africa
Shamil Idriss
Conclusion
Violent Conflict and Conflict Prevention in Africa: An Alternative Research Agenda
Ulf Engel
Index
All those interested in violent conflicts, the academic discussion on root causes of violent conflict and the international politics of conflict prevention in Sub-Saharan Africa.