Violence, Political Culture and Development in Africa

Africa has witnessed a number of transitions to democracy in recent years. Coinciding with this upsurge in democratic transitions there also have been spectacular experiences of social disintegration. An alternative to discourses of the 'failed' and 'collapsed' state in Africa is an approach that takes seriously the complexity of historical processes, on which the political development of individual nation states was based. The chapters in this volume throw light on the ways in which violence, political culture and development have interacted in recent African history. They run in a continuum from discussions of 'warlord politics' to an understanding of the 'new wars' in Africa as outcomes of fundamental changes in social solidarity. Wars and violent conflicts in Africa can thus be understood as responses to economic emergencies and political problems which are real, have histories, and can be engaged with constructively through both intellectual and practical efforts.

ISBN 0852558945   DEWEY edition DC22 ISBN13 9780852558942 (What's this?)   Pages 224 Publisher James Currey   Published in Oxford Imprint James Currey   Previous ISBN 9780896802513 Format Paperback   Height (mm) 234 Publication date 21 Sep 2006   Width (mm) 156 DEWEY 960.31   Academic level Undergraduate, Postgraduate, Professional / Scholarly

1		States of failure, societies in collapse? : understandings of violent conflict in Africa by Preben Kaarsholm		1
2		Insurgencies in the shadow of state collapse by William Reno		25
3		A societal view on violence & war : conflict & militia formation in eastern Congo by Koen Vlassenroot		49
4		Debating the Rwandan genocide by Nigel Eltringham		66
5		Darfur : peace, genocide & crimes against humanity in Sudan by Douglas H. Johnson		92
6		Legacies of violence in Matabeleland, Zimbabwe by Jocelyn Alexander		105
7		The past as contested terrain : commemorating new sites of memory in war-torn Ethiopia by Alessandro Triulzi		122
8		Violence as signifier : politics & generational struggle in KwaZulu-Natal by Preben Kaarsholm		139
9		War, violence & videotapes : media & localised ideoscapes of the liberian Civil War by Mats Utas		161
10		Forced labour & civil war : agrarian underpinnings of the Sierra Leone conflict by Paul Richards		181

'...I gained an insight into the role of the media and communication in Africa in times of conflict and increased my understanding of conflict and its impact on all levels of African society... '...I would recommend this book for academic and specialist research libraries for its detailed political, social and anthropological analysis.' - Sarah Heery in 'Focus'----------

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