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.

Democratization and Military Coups in Africa: Post-1990 Political Conflicts studies the seemingly endless cycle of coups that have occurred in Africa since the "Free Officers Coup" of 1952 in Egypt. Unfortunately, after more than three decades of the "third wave of democratization" that began in the 1990's, military coups remain a firm figure on the African political landscape. Although the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and its successor, the African Union (AU), have developed and implemented anti-coup norms, they have not deterred coup-makers. Contributors to this volume analyze the major fault lines in the body politics of African states that have created the conditions for coup-making and offer suggestions for ending the cycle of coups. Using countries such as Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, and Sudan as case studies, each chapter studies the causes, effects, and evolution of military coups in Africa in order to show that eliminating military coups will require identifying and addressing the root causes of the coup in each affected state.

Peacebuilding in Africa: The Post-Conflict State and Its Multidimensional Crises argues that building enduring peace in post-conflict states in Africa requires comprehensive, state-specific approaches that address the multidimensional crises that generated civil conflict and instabilities in these countries. Contributors examine states such as Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Sudan to demonstrate that peacebuilding projects in each of these states must address the cultural, economic, political, and social root causes of their respective underlying civil conflicts. In addition, contributors prove that peacebuilding projects must be shaped by the centrality of human security: the respect for ethno-cultural diversity, the advancement of human material well-being, the protection of political rights and civil liberties, and the redesigning of the military and security architecture to ensure the safety of all citizens from both internal and external threats.

This book frames the debates around the pressing desire for some form of unification that found expression in the pan-Africanist movement and formation of the Organization of African Unity in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1963 following the advent of home-rule for many former colonies of the Western powers. Discussions in this volume address the following fundamental issues: nationalism and political integration and how the contradictions between both philosophies can be resolved; the amelioration of corruption in order to attract internal and external investments critical for developing the vast natural resources housed in the continent; the need for Africa's adaptation to the ideology and practice of capitalism and liberal globalization to suit the character of African states in a projected federal United States of Africa; solutions to ethnic conflicts that are bound to happen over clashes of competing group interests; the indispensability and promotion of information communication technologies and urgent need to strengthen a network of regional electric power grids that would provide constant energy to the Union and lead to improvement in communication and economic growth; and recommendation of social democracy as the genre of democracy suitable for a proposed United States of Africa.

Globalization is not a new phenomenon in the international system evidenced by the various efforts that have been made over the last several centuries to establish a 'global village' with multiple spheres. However, the various phases of globalization have had divergent scope, actors, dimensions and dynamics. Against this background, this book focuses on the new globalization that emerged when the Cold War ended. For one thing, the new globalization is the most expansive and technologicaly advanced of all of the phases of globalization. For example, the new globalization has witnessed the integration of virtually all states of the world and non-state actors into the global capitalist system. The resultant consequences have differed from country to country and region to region. In this vein, this book identifies some of the frontier issues in Africa that are being impacted by the dynamics of this new globalization.

There is a general consensus in the scholarly literature that the post-colonial state in Africa has failed. Some states (Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia) have collapsed. Various arguments have been proffered to explain this dynamics of African state failure and collapse. However, the literature on state reconstitution is inchoate and minimal. This edited volume focuses on prescriptions for reconstituting the post-colonial state in Africa. Essays on nine African states (Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, and Uganda) are preceded by an introduction to the political economy of the African state.

Insurgency, Terrorism, and Counterterrorism in Africa, edited by George Klay Kieh, Jr. and Kelechi A. Kalu, addresses the need for a systematic understanding and examination of insurgent movements and terrorist organizations, as well as state policies that instigate intrastate conflicts in African states. It examines and documents the tactics that are used by anti-government forces, states' counterterrorism responses, and the human security impacts of insecurity on citizens across various communities in Africa. The contributors' extensive research methods include case studies that explore activities of terrorist organizations like Al Shabaab, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, and the Islamic State. It presents new and productive insights about counterterrorism strategies deployed by selected African states, the African Union, and the U.S. A historically rich and politically focused analysis of states as co-conspirators in terrorism-induced insecurity in Africa, this book challenges existing literature on terrorism that largely focuses on the actions of non-state entities. It provides practical insights to policymakers that desire to end insecurity and promote inclusive governance in Africa.

The African Continent is faced with several major development challenges that have, among other things, adversely affected the political and material well-being of the majority of the citizens of most of the constituent states. Against this background, this book seeks to address some of the continent's frontier development issues-democracy, leadership, the economy, poverty alleviation through microfinance schemes, food security, education, health, and political instability. The book's overarching contribution to both the scholarly literature and policy-making is twofold. First, the book engages in a rigorous analysis of each of the major development issues. Second, it offers alternative prescriptions for addressing these challenges, in contradistinction to the dominant neoliberal solutions.

Civil Wars in Africa, edited by Kelechi A. Kalu and George Klay Kieh, Jr., examines civil conflicts throughout various African countries. They argue that civil wars in Africa are by-products of the contradictions and crises engendered by the post-colonial state-building and nation-building projects in Africa. With few exceptions, the post-colonial states in Africa have failed to build societies that invest in the material well-being of their citizens; protect their political, civil, and other rights; promote accountability, transparency, the rule of law, judicial independence, and the holding of free and fair elections; and promote ethnic pluralism, tolerance, mutual respect, and peaceful co-existence, among others. In addition, the contributors show that the post-colonial states in Africa have been ruled by corrupt and autocratic leaders, who are obsessed with the maintenance of state power as the pathway to ensuring the private accumulation of wealth through sundry illegal means, including bribery, extortion, and theft of public funds. In sum, this volume addresses how the failure of the post-colonial African state to shepherd the process of building democratic societies based on the centrality of human security has led to the erosion of the legitimacy of the state and its custodians. Thus, once the contradictions and crises reached their crescendo, these post-colonial societies than implode into civil wars, even at the micro-level.

This book examines the twin critical processes of state-building and nation-building in Africa and the confluence of major domestic and global issues that shape them. The book covers topics such as the expansive role of non-governmental organizations, the growing influence of charismatic Pentecostalism, ethnic conflicts in East Africa, the failure of the African Union's peacekeeping efforts in Sudan's Darfur region, and Africa's expanding relations with the European Union. It combines discussion of these frontier issues shaping contemporary African society with analysis from leading policy experts.

Globalization is not a new phenomenon in the international system. However, the various phases of globalization have had divergent scopes, actors, dimensions and dynamics - that is, each of the phases of globalization can be differentiated according to these terms. Against this background, this book focuses on the 'new globalization', a phase that emerged when the Cold War ended and which is, significantly, the most expansive and technologically advanced of all the phases of globalization. The contributors identify and discuss many of the frontier issues in Africa that are being impacted by the dynamics of this new globalization - debt, human rights, development, state sovereignty, the environment, and the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The volume will hold particular interest for students, scholars and researchers of African and development politics.