The Great African War (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780521111287)

This book examines a decade-long period of instability, violence and state decay in Central Africa from 1996, when the war started, to 2006, when elections formally ended the political transition in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A unique combination of circumstances explain the unravelling of the conflicts: the collapsed Zairian/Congolese state; the continuation of the Rwandan civil war across borders; the shifting alliances in the region; the politics of identity in Rwanda, Burundi and eastern DRC; the ineptitude of the international community; and the emergence of privatized and criminalized public spaces and economies, linked to the global economy, but largely disconnected from the state - on whose territory the "entrepreneurs of insecurity" function. As a complement to the existing literature, this book seeks to provide an in-depth analysis of concurrent developments in Zaire/DRC, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda in African and international contexts. By adopting a non-chronological approach, it attempts to show the dynamics of the inter-relationships between these realms and offers a toolkit for understanding the past and future of Central Africa.

Author: Filip Reyntjens
ISBN-10: 0521111285
ISBN-13: 9780521111287
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 08/24/2009
Pages: 340
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.35lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 1.10d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 05/01/2010