This book, a concise examination of U.S. policy in contemporary Africa, delineates various aspects of the role that the U.S. played in exacerbating and/or resolving violent conflicts in postcolonial Africa and provides a succinct historical overview of these armed conflicts. F. Ugboaja Ohaegbulam devotes considerable attention to four specific conflicts in Ethiopia-Somalia, the Western Sahara, Angola, and Rwanda and to the Clinton administration's African Crisis Response Initiative and its sequel under George W. Bush. The book concludes that lack of congruence between local forces in conflict in Africa, as well as U.S. aims in those conflicts, was only one of the constraints on the United States in its attempts at conflict resolution. America's counterproductive Cold War policies also defined relations with African states for far too long. Hence, the conflicts in postcolonial Africa became part of the legacy of those policies even as African problems continued to be low-priority concerns for the U.S. government. Libraries, advanced undergraduate and graduate students, and professors of African studies, as well as the general reader, will find this book useful.

As Africa’s strategic importance has increased over the past decade and a half, United States security cooperation with the continent has expanded. The most visible dimension of this increased engagement was the establishment of the U.S. Military Command for Africa (AFRICOM). Some critics are skeptical of AFRICOM’s purpose and see the militarization of U.S. Africa policy while others question its effectiveness. Recognizing the link between development and security, AFRICOM represents a departure from the traditional organization of military commands because of its holistic approach and the involvement of the Department of State as well as other U.S. government stakeholders. Nevertheless, AFRICOM’s effort to combine security and development faces formidable conceptual and operational challenges in trying to ensure both American and African security interests. The human security perspective’s emphasis on issues that go beyond traditional state-centered security to include protecting individuals from threats of hunger, disease, crime, environmental degradation, and political repression as well as focusing on social and economic justice is an important component of security policy. At the same time, the threat of violent extremism heavily influences U.S. security cooperation with Africa. In this examination of the context of U.S.-African security relations, Robert J. Griffiths outlines the nature of the African state, traces the contours of African conflict, surveys the post-independence history of U.S. involvement on the continent, and discusses policy organization and implementation and the impact of U.S. experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan on the U.S.-Africa security relationship. Africa’s continuing geostrategic significance, the influence of China and other emerging markets in the region, and America’s other global engagements, especially in light of U.S. fiscal realities, demonstrate the complexity of U.S.-African security cooperation.

Nationalism has generated violence, bloodshed, and genocide, as well as patriotic sentiments that encourage people to help fellow citizens and place public responsibilities above personal interests. This study explores the contradictory character of African nationalism as it unfolded over decades of Tanzanian history in conflicts over public policies concerning the rights of citizens, foreigners, and the nation's Asian racial minority. These policy debates reflected a history of racial oppression and foreign domination and were shaped by a quest for economic development, racial justice, and national self-reliance.

The image of Africa among Americans at the beginning of the 21st century is tragic; America's image among Africans is of a place that is splendid but arrogant and unfeeling. Both have large elements of truth. Poverty, coups, corruption, pandemic disease, and tribal, racial, and religious violence are all too common in Africa. So too is Americans' lack of concern about the people of a continent that suffers from these tragedies, as well as their government's support for African governments that treat their people as prey instead of citizens. The Historical Dictionary of United States-Africa Relations encompasses the relationship between the two from the trans-Atlantic slave trade to the George W. Bush administration, with particular emphasis on the Cold War. It focuses on political and economic aspects of the relationship and includes cultural relations. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on key persons, places, events, institutions, and organizations.

This wide-ranging volume presents the most complete appraisal of modern African history to date. It assembles dozens of new and established scholars to tackle the questions and subjects that define the field, ranging from the economy, the two world wars, nationalism, decolonization, and postcolonial politics to religion, development, sexuality, and the African youth experience. Contributors are drawn from numerous fields in African studies, including art, music, literature, education, and anthropology. The themes they cover illustrate the depth of modern African history and the diversity and originality of lenses available for examining it. Older themes in the field have been treated to an engaging re-assessment, while new and emerging themes are situated as the book’s core strength. The result is a comprehensive, vital picture of where the field of modern African history stands today.

In light of the discrepancy between Britain's and France's postcolonial security roles in Africa, which seemed already determined half a decade after independence, this book studies the making of the postcolonial security relationship during the transfer of power and the early years of independence (1958-1966). It focuses on West Africa, and more specificially the newly independent states of Nigeria and Côte d'Ivoire, which rapidly evolved into key players in the postcolonial struggle for Africa. Based on research in fourteen archives in Africa, Europe, and the United States, Postcolonial Security comparatively investigates the establishment of formal defence relations, the disintegration of the Anglo-Nigerian 'special relationship' and the Franco-Ivorian 'neo-colonial collusion', the provision of British and French military assistance to their former colonies and the competition they faced from West Germany and Israel respectively, and the Anglo-American partnership in Nigeria and the Franco-American rivalry in Côte d'Ivoire. It demonstrates that whereas Britain was rapidly and increasingly pushed out of and replaced in the Nigerian security sector by western competitors, France succeeded in retaining its military foothold and pre-eminence in Côte d'Ivoire. Informed by postcolonial approaches, Postcolonial Security argues that while London's Cold War blinkers and Paris's neo-imperial agenda were part of the equation, the postcolonial security relationship was ultimately determined by the Nigerian and Ivorian elites, which in turn responded to their local and regional circumstances against the background of the Cold War in Africa.

This book explores the instability of the African postcolonial state and demonstrates that such a fundamental crisis can be solved only through discourses and practices that are designed beyond the Westphalian model of the modern state and out of the neo-patrimonialistic system of African governance. The challenge of instability will not be overcome by rebuilding the African nation-state undermined by social contradictions and complex emergencies; rather stability will be achieved by opening a public space of agonistic democracy that is supported mainly by an overlapping consensus on justice. The author argues that by reading critically, the African philosophy of solidarity is contradicted by structural violence and inequality. The political instrumentalization of kinship provokes the exclusion of minorities, the marginalization of masses, and the instability of the entire society. Governance is reduced to mere conflict management. The solution of legitimate violence becomes another version of the problem of institutional incapacity. The author's contention is people are the ultimate and permanent agents of stability, and the ground of stability must not be a strong state, but the politics of reciprocity and union among people that implies a sense of justice in the power sharing and in the decision making process.

Using the longue duree approach and the political economy approach, The State, Counterinsurgency, and Political Policing in Colonial and Postcolonial Malawi, 1891-1994 studies Malawi's colonial and post-colonial history. Malawi is a former British Protectorate, formerly known as the Nyasaland Protectorate. Paul Chiudza Banda analyzes the story of the rise of insurgencies in Malawi and adopts the concept of "counterinsurgency" to address the reactions of the state to those who challenged its legitimacy and authority. Banda explores the factors behind the rise of insurgency, such as land alienation, high taxation, elements of forced labor, and denial of development opportunities. Banda also examines the counterinsurgency measures used by the state, such as the use of brutal force (especially through the police and other para-military groups), the codification of strict laws, and the offer of development opportunities. Through Malawi’s history, Banda provides an analysis on why citizens challenge state authority, how the state responds, and what methods the state uses to defeat insurgencies.

​This book addresses the unique challenges faced by Africa regarding peaceful self-determination. Unlike other regions, Africa has seen limited success in nonviolent self-determination campaigns. Since 1989, only three African nations - Namibia, Eritrea, and South Sudan - have joined the UN after enduring prolonged and violent struggles for independence. In a world characterized by constant change, border alterations typically require armed conflicts in postcolonial Africa. In response to this disconcerting trend, the book offers pragmatic blueprints for achieving peace, emphasizing constitutional approaches to navigate the delicate balance between sovereignty and self-determination. The work delves into the complexities of five self-determination struggles spanning three African countries, providing valuable insights into the challenges faced. It distils six critical lessons from these case studies and presents fourteen blueprint proposals tailored to address the unique dynamics of postcolonial Africa, where reconciling sovereignty and self-determination remains a pressing concern.

This volume is the first, comprehensive and balanced historical account of the momentous Nigeria-Biafra war. It offers a multi-perspectival treatment of the conflict that explores issues such as local experiences of victims, the massive relief campaigns by humanitarian NGOs and international organizations like the Red Cross, the actions of foreign powers with interests in the conflict, and the significance of the international public sphere, in which the propaganda and public relations war about the question of genocide was waged.