Driven by genocide, civil war, political instabilities, ethnic and pastoral hostilities, the African Great Lakes Region, primarily Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Burundi, has been overwhelmingly defined by conflict. Kenneth Omeje, Tricia Redeker Hepner, and an international group of scholars, many from the Great Lakes region, focus on the interlocking conflicts and efforts toward peace in this multidisciplinary volume. These essays present a range of debates and perspectives on the history and politics of conflict, highlighting the complex internal and external sources of both persistent tension and creative peacebuilding. Taken together, the essays illustrate that no single perspective or approach can adequately capture the dynamics of conflict or offer successful strategies for sustainable peace in the region.

Driven by genocide, civil war, political instabilities, ethnic and pastoral hostilities, the African Great Lakes Region, primarily Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Burundi, has been overwhelmingly defined by conflict. Kenneth Omeje, Tricia Redeker Hepner, and an international group of scholars, many from the Great Lakes region, focus on the interlocking conflicts and efforts toward peace in this multidisciplinary volume. These essays present a range of debates and perspectives on the history and politics of conflict, highlighting the complex internal and external sources of both persistent tension and creative peacebuilding. Taken together, the essays illustrate that no single perspective or approach can adequately capture the dynamics of conflict or offer successful strategies for sustainable peace in the region.

This collection of cases from East Africa, contributed largely by locally-based authors, explores the increasing security governance phenomenon in the region: that is, the mix of state and non-state actors, including private entities, volunteer auxiliaries, homegrown vigilantes and gangs, and the relationship between police and communities. Local dynamics brought by globalization, liberalization, the new scramble for resource wealth, inequality, and international terrorism are observed in detail, superimposed upon the well-known development challenges, ethnopolitical divides, and patterns of government and security provision which continue to reflect their colonial past. This book raises both practical and theoretical ethical dilemmas of the increasing fragmentation of security functions within Uganda, Kenya, South Sudan, mainland Tanzania, and Zanzibar. It is a vital contribution to the "non-state," "plural policing" debates and is of both local and global relevance.