The Resolution of African Conflicts: The Management of Conflict Resolution and Post-Conflict Reconstruction - Softcover

Alfred G.; Zeleza Tiyambe Nhema

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1847013023 ISBN 13: 9781847013026

Publisher: James Currey, 2008

Synopsis

In this companion volume to The Roots of African Conflicts African scholars analyse a number of conflicts and their resolution - demonstrating the importance of their resolution and their impact on the wider continent '...The studies in these two books seek to advance our understanding of African conflicts by going beyond the conventional and fashionable analyses of Africanist scholarship, often inflected with, if not infected by, Afropessimism, or the simplistic stereotypes conveyed in the western media that is infused with Afrophobia....these conflicts must be understood in comparative perspective, not in isolation. Violent conflict in Africa is indeed part of the human drama, but the tendency to impose universalist models of conflict driven from stylized western experiences or faddish theorising must be resisted... such paradigms lead to poor analysis and bad policy. Conflict is too serious a matter, and its costs too grave, for glib modeling or lazy journalistic speculation uninformed by the histories of, and unmindful of the concrete conditions in, the societies under scrutiny.' - From the introduction to The Roots of African Conflicts by Paul Tiyambe Zeleza 'The search for peace is too important to be left to outsiders, however well-intentioned. It is encouraging to see that a growing number of African scholars are interested in exploring and engaging this crucial subject'. - From the introduction to The Resolution of African Conflicts by Paul Tiyambe Zeleza North America: Ohio U Press; South Africa: Unisa PressBR>

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Alfred G. Nhema is the executive secretary of OSSREA, the Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa, Addis Ababa. He is the author of Democracy in Zimbabwe: From Liberation to Liberalization. He is also editor of The Quest for Peace in Africa: Transformations, Democracy and Public Policy . He is also the co-editor of The Roots of African Conflicts.
Paul Tiyambe Zeleza is Head of the Department of African American Studies, Professor of African American Studies and History and the Liberal Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He was elected Vice-President of the (U.S.) African Studies Association for 2007-2008 and will serve as President in 2008-2009. He has authored or edited more than two dozen books including most recently The Roots of African Conflicts; The Study of Africa; and African Universities in the Twenty-First Century.

Review

By putting together these two comprehensive and well-researched volumes, Nhema and Zeleza have done a great service to the Africanist community as well as to interested laypersons. (They) should be commended for selecting and editing twenty well-researched and thoughtfully argued contributions to provide us with what is arguably one of the most comprehensive and perceptive treatments to date of conflict and conflict resolution in Africa from both a historical and contemporary perspective. AFRICAN STUDIES REVIEWThe ambitious task established by the editors of uncovering the roots and the solutions to the current conflicts in Africa is excellently addressed by the contributors (...) the variety of views is actually one of the volumes' strengths, providing the reader with a wide spectrum of approaches to the issues at hand, enhanced by the variety of research methods used by the contributors. (...) The two volumes therefore present an intellectual challenge, pushing scholars to think about a myriad of circumstances and actors involved in some of the most poignant issues of our time. (...) These two volumes thus will not only serve scholars committed to the study of peace and conflict, but also policy makers and anyone interested in gaining insights towards the real potential for peace in Africa. JOURNAL OF INTERVENTION & STATEBUILDING Nhema and Zeleza have assembled in these two extraordinary companion volumes (The Roots of African Conflicts and The Resolution of African Conflicts), one of the most comprehensive treatments of conflicts in Africa. The two volumes, with admirable competence, address the multiple causes of conflicts from a historical and contemporary perspective, and creatively attempt to offer solutions to these conflicts that go beyond most contemporary analyses. In the end, both the editors and the contributors point to democratic governance as the best solution to African conflicts. All Africa's well wishers, scholars of conflict and African leaders in particular, need to heed the lessons presented in these two volumes. ... a must read for anyone interested in Africa's peaceful development. - Julius E. Nyang'oro, Professor and Chair, African and Afro-American Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

About this edition

• Publisher: James Currey
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1847013023
• ISBN 13: 9781847013026
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224
• Editor: Paul Tiyambe Zeleza