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Civil war

When the State Fails : Studies on Intervention in the Sierra Leone Civil War

Medarbetare: Zack-Williams, Tunde
Utgivare: Pluto Press; Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2012
Ämnesord: Sierra Leone, Civil war, Armed forces, Military activity, Foreign intervention, conflicts, Post-conflict reconstruction, Peacebuilding, Security sector reform, Regional security, Neoliberalism, Political science, Statsvetenskap
Compared with Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo, the recent western intervention in Sierra Leone has been largely forgotten. This book provides a comprehensive and critical overview of what happened, and examines its ongoing consequences. Sierra Leone’s civil war began in 1991 and was officially declared over in 2002 after UK, UN and regional African military intervention. The contributors provide an informed analysis of the impact of the intervention on democracy, development and society in Sierra Leone. They take a particularly critical view of the imposition of neoliberalism after the conflict.

Supporting African peace operations

Medarbetare: Gelot, Linnéa | Gelot, Ludwig | de Coning, Cedric
Utgivare: Uppsala
År: 2012
Ämnesord: Africa, Civil war, conflicts, Peace corps, Peacebuilding, Peacekeeping, International cooperation, International security, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
The Nordic Africa Institute, the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation and the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs hosted a seminar in Uppsala, Sweden, on 15 and 16 December 2011, that brought together AU, EU and UN officials closely involved in peace operations in Africa. The seminar’s purpose was to allow participants to compare their experiences of the different support models that have been used to date in Sudan and Somalia. International support for African peace operations provides opportunities but also poses challenges. This report examines four of these challenges in some detail: the AU Commission’s limited capacity to plan and manage peace operations; insufficient political engagement by African member states with AU peace operations; the short-termism and self-interest of some of the AU’s partners; and the need for UN Security Council permanent members to value and ensure a shared AU-UN strategic vision. The report also includes policy recommendations for resolving these challenges.

Inequality and Identity : Causes of War?

Upphovsperson: Holmqvist, Göran
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Globalization, Trade and Regional Integration |
År: 2012
Ämnesord: Africa, Civil war, conflicts, Social inequality, cultural identity, Intergroup relations, Social control, Theory, comparative analysis, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
In this paper, four theories on the causes of civil war are reviewed. One theory, associated with Paul Collier, emphasises feasibility over factors related to grievance. A second theory, espoused by Frances Stewart, focuses on the role of horizontal inequalities. The third theory, identified with William Zartman, highlights the different roles “need, creed and greed” factors play in various phases of a conflict. And the fourth theory, associated with the World Bank /World Development Report 2011, points out “commitment” problems leading to institutional failures as a crucial factor. Each of the theories leads to quite different policy conclusions. Their strengths and weaknesses, and their claimed empirical support, are discussed.In addition, some of the mechanisms underpinning the theories are highlighted on the basis of empirical data. In particular, the central role of horizontal inequalities between social groups is discussed.

Rebels and robbers : violence in post-colonial Angola

Upphovsperson: Malaquias, Assis
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2007
Ämnesord: violence, Social structure, Obstacles to development, Political aspects, Political power, Civil war, peace, Nation Building, national security, Post-conflict reconstruction, Angola, Political science, Statsvetenskap
Rebels and Robbers is about the political economy of violence in post-colonial Angola. This book provides the first comprehensive attempt at analyzing how the military and non-military dynamics of more than four decades of conflict created the structural violence that stubbornly defines Angolan society even in the absence of war. The book clearly demonstrates that the end of the civil war has not ushered in positive peace. The focus on structural violence enables the author to explore the continuities since colonial times, especially in the ways race, class, ethnicity, and power have been used by governing elites as mechanisms to oppress the powerless. Thus, although corruption as structural violence manifesting itself so ubiquitously in Angola today may have been taken to new levels after independence, its origin is unmistakably colonial. Similarly, the zero-sum character of political interactions that defined colonial Angola is yet to be fully exorcized. But there are also important discontinuities. The unabashed propensity to capture public resources for personal aggrandizement is purely post-colonial. So is the tendency toward personal, unaccountable rule. Given its rich endowments, the end of the civil war provides Angola with an opportunity to finally realize its developmental potential. This will depend on whether the wealth resulting from the exploration of natural resources is directed toward creating the conditions for the citizens' realization of their aspirations for the good life thus ensuring sustainable peace.

Re-living the second Chimurenga : memories from the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe

Upphovsperson: Chung, Fay
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet; Weaver Press, Harare
År: 2006
Ämnesord: Biographies, national liberation movements, Liberation, Civil war, Independence, ZANU, Zimbabwe, Political science, Statsvetenskap
Fay Chung grew up in a Chinese family in Rhodesia in the 1950s and 1960s. She studied education and literature, and became a lecturer at the University of Zambia in the early 1970s. In Zambia, she joined the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), and took part in the radicalisation of the nationalist rising, which led to Zimbabwe's independence in 1980. The memoirs of Fay Chung give an inside view of the divisions within ZANU during the late 1970s. She witnessed the change of leadership from Sithole to Mugabe, experienced the tensions between politicians and military leaders, as well as the rise and fall of the vashandi movement, which tried to change the direction of ZANU in a more socialist direction. Within ZANU, Fay Chung was prominent in preparing educational reform, and after Independence worked for the Zimbabwean Ministry of Education and Culture - eventually as Minister. Her memoirs describe the efforts to extend access to education and to bring ‘education-with-production’ principles into school curricula. Fay Chung also reflects on the ongoing crisis in Zimbabwe. While regretting the violence, she is critical of the new democratic opposition, and supports Robert Mugabe's 'Third Chimurenga' as a return to the objectives of land reform and economic justice, which she sees as the 'heartblood' of the liberation struggle. This is an account, which will be certain to provoke many readers, and which will stimulate discussions both within Zimbabwe and abroad. This edition includes an introduction by Preben Kaarsholm, which situates Fay Chung's narrative in the context of ongoing debates about Zimbabwe.

Short-cut to decay : the case of the Sudan

Upphovspersoner: Harir, Sharif | Tvedt, Terje
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 1994
Ämnesord: Civil war, conflicts, Economic conditions, Ethnicity, Government policy, political development, State, Sudan, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
The Sudan can demonstrate that while there is no short-cut to progress there is one to decay and misery. After eleven years of peace, the second civil war has now lasted for more than ten years. Regional, ethnic and religious conflicts are intensifying all over the country. The economy is in shambles while a small élite is enriching itself.

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