Post-Cold War Conflicts in Africa

Post-Cold War Conflicts in Africa
Author: Augustine C. Ohanwe
Publisher: Adonis & Abbey Publishers
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2009
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

Using Liberia and Somalia as case studies, Post-Cold War Conflicts in Africa analyses how the post Cold War conflicts in these two countries and their management differed from what they would have been during the Cold War era. It shows for instance that while in Liberia the major powers appeared content to cede the management of the conflict to the sub-regional group, ECOMOG, in Somalia, the conflict appeared to be turned into an arena for simple military experiment without any of the old Cold War ideological rivalries playing any role in its trajectory or management. The book argues that the end of the Cold War offers an opportunity for the successful use of a new approach to conflict management in the continent, which would be anchored on traditional African diplomacy. This new approach would involve a triumvirate of eminent men and women from the continent, regional peacekeeping forces, and the warring factions themselves working in concert to replace the rifle with 'talking till every one agrees'

War and Conflict in Africa

War and Conflict in Africa
Author: Paul D. Williams
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2016-06-23
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1509509089

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.

The Oxford Handbook of the Cold War

The Oxford Handbook of the Cold War
Author: Richard H. Immerman
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 680
Release: 2013-01-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 0191643629

The Oxford Handbook of the Cold War offers a broad reassessment of the period war based on new conceptual frameworks developed in the field of international history. Nearing the 25th anniversary of its end, the cold war now emerges as a distinct period in twentieth-century history, yet one which should be evaluated within the broader context of global political, economic, social, and cultural developments. The editors have brought together leading scholars in cold war history to offer a new assessment of the state of the field and identify fundamental questions for future research. The individual chapters in this volume evaluate both the extent and the limits of the cold war's reach in world history. They call into question orthodox ways of ordering the chronology of the cold war and also present new insights into the global dimension of the conflict. Even though each essay offers a unique perspective, together they show the interconnectedness between cold war and national and transnational developments, including long-standing conflicts that preceded the cold war and persisted after its end, or global transformations in areas such as human rights or economic and cultural globalization. Because of its broad mandate, the volume is structured not along conventional chronological lines, but thematically, offering essays on conceptual frameworks, regional perspectives, cold war instruments and cold war challenges. The result is a rich and diverse accounting of the ways in which the cold war should be positioned within the broader context of world history.

US Foreign Policy and the End of the Cold War in Africa

US Foreign Policy and the End of the Cold War in Africa
Author: Flavia Gasbarri
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2020-05-07
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1000071588

This book investigates the end of the Cold War in Africa and its impact on post-Cold War US foreign policy in the continent. The fall of the Berlin Wall is widely considered the end of the Cold War; however, it documents just one of the many "ends", since the Cold War was a global conflict. This book looks at one of the most neglected extra-European battlegrounds, the African continent, and explores how American foreign policy developed in this region between the late 1980s and the early 1990s. Drawing on a wide range of recently disclosed documents, the book shows that the Cold War in Africa ended in 1988, preceding the fall of the Berlin Wall. It also reveals how, since then, some of the most controversial and inconsistent episodes of post-Cold War US foreign policy in Africa have been deeply rooted in the unique process whereby American rivalry with the USSR found its end in the continent. The book challenges the traditional narrative by presenting an original perspective on the study of the end of the Cold War and provides new insights into the shaping of US foreign policy during the so-called ‘unipolar moment’. This book will be of much interest to students of Cold War history, US foreign policy, African politics and international relations.

Foreign Intervention in Africa

Foreign Intervention in Africa
Author: Elizabeth Schmidt
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2013-03-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 0521882389

This book chronicles foreign political and military interventions in Africa from 1956 to 2010, helping readers understand the historical roots of Africa's problems.

Cold War in Southern Africa

Cold War in Southern Africa
Author: Sue Onslow
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2009-09-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 1135219338

This edited volume examines the complexities of the Cold War in Southern Africa and uses a range of archives to develop a more detailed understanding of the impact of the Cold War environment upon the processes of political change. In the aftermath of European decolonization, the struggle between white minority governments and black liberation movements encouraged both sides to appeal for external support from the two superpower blocs. Cold War in Southern Africa highlights the importance of the global ideological environment on the perceptions and consequent behaviour of the white minority regimes, the Black Nationalist movements, and the newly independent African nationalist governments. Together, they underline the variety of archival sources on the history of Southern Africa in the Cold War and its growing importance in Cold War Studies. This volume brings together a series of essays by leading scholars based on a wide range of sources in the United States, Russia, Cuba, Britain, Zambia and South Africa. By focussing on a range of independent actors, these essays highlight the complexity of the conflict in Southern Africa: a battle of power blocs, of systems and ideas, which intersected with notions and practices of race and class This book will appeal to students of cold war studies, US foreign policy, African politics and International History. Sue Onslow has taught at the London School of Economics since 1994. She is currently a Cold War Studies Fellow in the Cold War Studies Centre/IDEAS

Why Europe Intervenes in Africa

Why Europe Intervenes in Africa
Author: Catherine Gegout
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2017
Genre: History
ISBN: 0190845163

Gegout's book offers a sharp rebuke to those who believe that altruism is the guiding principle of Western intervention in Africa.

Humanitarian Intervention and Conflict Resolution in West Africa

Humanitarian Intervention and Conflict Resolution in West Africa
Author: Dr John M Kabia
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2013-03-28
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1409498948

The end of the Cold War has been characterized by a wave of violent civil wars that have produced unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe and suffering. Although mostly intra-state, these conflicts have spread across borders and threatened international peace and security. One of the worst affected regions is West Africa which has been home to some of Africa's most brutal and intractable conflicts for more than a decade. This volume locates the peacekeeping operations of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) within an expanded post-Cold War conceptualization of humanitarian intervention. It examines the organization's capacity to protect civilians at risk in civil conflicts and to facilitate the processes of peacemaking and post-war peace-building. Taking the empirical case of ECOWAS, the book looks at the challenges posed by complex political emergencies (CPEs) to humanitarian intervention and traces the evolution of ECOWAS from an economic integration project to a security organization, examining the challenges inherent in such a transition.

The Last of Africa's Cold War Conflicts

The Last of Africa's Cold War Conflicts
Author: Al J. Venter
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2020-05-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 152677299X

This detailed combat history sheds light on the significant yet overlooked guerilla campaigns in what would become Angola and Guinea-Bissou. Portugal was the first European country to colonize Africa. It was also the last to leave, almost five centuries later. During what Lisbon called its “civilizing mission” the Portuguese weathered numerous insurrections, but none as severe as the guerrilla war first launched in Angola in 1961 and two years later in Portuguese Guinea. Both the Soviets and the Cubans believed that because the tiny colony of Guinea had no resources, Lisbon would soon capitulate. But the 11-year struggle became the empire’s most strenuous attempt to retain colonial power. Though it was overshadowed by the conflict in Vietnam, the Soviet-led guerrilla campaign in Portuguese Guinea set the scene for the wars that followed in Rhodesia and present-day Namibia.

Civil Wars in Africa

Civil Wars in Africa
Author: Taisier M. Ali
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Total Pages: 335
Release: 1999-01-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 0773567380

John Kiyaga-Nsubuga focuses on Yoweri Museveni and his National Resistance Movement regime's attempt to bring peace to Uganda. John Prendergast and Mark Duffield look at Ethiopia's long civil war and the role of liberation politics and external engagement. Bruce Jones studies the ethnic roots of the civil war in Rwanda. Elwood Dunn explores political manipulation and ethnic differences as causes of civil strife in Liberia. John Saul examines the role of Western powers in establishing peace in Mozambique. Hussein Adam describes the collapse of the authoritarian regime in Somalia and the subsequent rise of inter-clan and sub-clan rivalry. Taisier Ali and Robert Matthews argue that the forty-year conflict in Sudan is much more complex than the usual view that it results from the pitting of the Arab, Islamic North against the African, Christian South. Shifting the focus to how internal unrest may be managed, Hevina Dashwood examines government initiatives undertaken to maintain stability in Zimbabwe and Cranford Pratt describes the policies and institutions developed by Nyerere that enabled Tanzania to avoid ethnic, regional, and religious factionalism and intra-elite rivalries. James Busumtwi-Sam explores multilateral third-party intervention, highlighting the changing role of the OAU and the United Nations and their effectiveness in averting war. The concluding chapter draws together findings from the individual case studies and incorporates them into the larger corpus of the literature.