Description:
Torn by ongoing civil and military violence, Africa presents a challenge to scholars interested in the root causes of conflict. Each conflict is unique, but overall they exhibit common patterns. The contributors of this book employ an eclectic array of current explanations of civil strife and how to resolve it. The first half of the book provides the relevant theoretical background. Theories of conflict and conflict resolution, the larger context of African strife in Africa, and patterns and trends of conflict are discussed. Shifting from the general to the particular, the remaining chapters of this volume gauge the accuracy and usefulness of the current thinking on conflicts by grounding it in case studies drawn from the Great Lakes Region, Liberia, Nigeria, and Zambia.
Brief description: George Klay Kieh, Jr. is dean of the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs and professor of political science at Texas Southern University, and professor of international relations at the African Methodist Episcopal University.
Review Quotes: "[M]ost useful to upper level undergraduate or graduate students in courses on conflict management or African politics."-African Studies Quarterly