Author: Redie Bereketeab Publisher: Pluto Press (UK) ISBN: 9781849648233 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 208
Book Description
Shows how regional and international interventions, combined with piracy, have compounded pre-existing tensions in the Horn of Africa.
Author: Alex de Waal Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ISBN: 0745695612 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 242
Book Description
The Real Politics of the Horn of Africa delves into the business of politics in the turbulent, war-torn countries of north-east Africa. It is a contemporary history of how politicians, generals and insurgents bargain over money and power, and use of war to achieve their goals. Drawing on a thirty-year career in Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia, including experience as a participant in high-level peace talks, Alex de Waal provides a unique and compelling account of how these countries’ leaders run their governments, conduct their business, fight their wars and, occasionally, make peace. De Waal shows how leaders operate on a business model, securing funds for their ‘political budgets’ which they use to rent the provisional allegiances of army officers, militia commanders, tribal chiefs and party officials at the going rate. This political marketplace is eroding the institutions of government and reversing statebuildingÑand it is fuelled in large part by oil exports, aid funds and western military assistance for counter-terrorism and peacekeeping. The Real Politics of the Horn of Africa is a sharp and disturbing book with profound implications for international relations, development and peacemaking in the Horn of Africa and beyond.
Author: Gebru Tareke Publisher: Yale University Press ISBN: 0300156154 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 458
Book Description
Revolution, civil wars, and guerilla warfare wracked Ethiopia during three turbulent decades at the end of the 20th century. Here, Tareke brings to life the leading personalities in the domestic political struggles, strategies of the warring parties international actors, and key battles.
Author: Radoslav A. Yordanov Publisher: Lexington Books ISBN: 1498529100 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 329
Book Description
At the height of the Cold War, Soviet ideologues, policymakers, diplomats, and military officers perceived the countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America as the future reserve of socialism, holding the key to victory over Western forces. The zero-sum nature of East-West global competition induced the United States to try to thwart Soviet ambitions. The result was predictable: the two superpowers engaged in proxy struggles against each other in faraway, little-understood lands, often ending up entangled in protracted and highly destructive local fights that did little to serve their own agendas. Using a wealth of recently declassified sources, this book tells the complex story of Soviet involvement in the Horn of Africa, a narrowly defined geographic entity torn by the rivalry of two large countries (Ethiopia and Somalia), from the beginning of the Cold War until the demise of the Soviet Union. At different points in the twentieth century, this region—arguably one of the poorest in the world—attracted broad international interest and large quantities of advanced weaponry, making it a Cold War flashpoint. The external actors ultimately failed to achieve what they wanted from the local conflicts—a lesson relevant for U.S. policymakers today as they ponder whether to use force abroad in the wake of the unhappy experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Author: Christopher Clapham Publisher: Hurst Publishers ISBN: 1805260723 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 261
Book Description
Why is the Horn such a distinctive part of Africa? This book, by one of the foremost scholars of the region, traces this question through its exceptional history and also probes the wildly divergent fates of the Horn’s contemporary nation-states, despite the striking regional particularity inherited from the colonial past. Christopher Clapham explores how the Horn’s peculiar topography gave rise to the Ethiopian empire, the sole African state not only to survive European colonialism, but also to participate in a colonial enterprise of its own. Its impact on its neighbours, present-day Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia and Somaliland, created a region very different from that of post-colonial Africa. This dynamic has become all the more distinct since 1991, when Eritrea and Somaliland emerged from the break-up of both Ethiopia and Somalia. Yet this evolution has produced highly varied outcomes in the region’s constituent countries, from state collapse (and deeply flawed reconstruction) in Somalia, through militarised isolation in Eritrea, to a still fragile ‘developmental state’ in Ethiopia. The tensions implicit in the process of state formation now drive the relationships between the once historically close nations of the Horn.
Author: Philip Caputo Publisher: Vintage ISBN: 0307822079 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 497
Book Description
When Vietnam veteran and foreign correspondent Charlie Gage is recruited by the shadowy Thomas Colfax to assist with something called Operation Atropos, he has no idea he is about to be enlisted for guerilla warfare in northeast Africa. Once he realizes he’s a mercenary, however, he is not at all concerned. Ever since his young secretary was killed by a grenade at their bureau office in Beirut a couple of years before, he has lost all volition. Which is why he so readily capitulates not only to Colfax, but also, and more dangerously so, to every command of Jeremy Nordstrand, the mystical megalomaniac determined to achieve greatness on their seemingly suicidal mission. Set in the forsaken yet exotic deserts of Ethiopia, Horn of Africa is a vividly detailed and masterfully plotted novel chronicling a broken man’s struggle for salvation and inner freedom in the midst of a broken nation’s fight for stability and peace.
Author: Terrence Lyons Publisher: Council on Foreign Relations Press ISBN: Category : History Languages : en Pages : 64
Book Description
Increased tensions along the Ethiopian- Eritrean border —in a context of internal political turmoil in Ethiopia, increasing political repression in Eritrea, and recent developments in Somalia —raise concerns of expanding instability in the strategically important Horn of Africa. Avoiding Conflict in the Horn of Africa urges the United States to take the risks and spend the resources necessary to resolve the Ethiopia-Eritrea border conflict and thereby reduce tension in the region. It argues that Washington should pressure Ethiopia to demarcate the border and Eritrea to lift restrictions on the UN peacekeeping mission that monitors the border. Washington must also make clear to both countries the costs of continuing to suppress internal dissent —and highlight the benefits of initiating real internal reform and regional cooperation. In addition, the administration should be prepared to cut bilateral assistance programs and enact sanctions if political conditions deteriorate further. Finally, the United States, international donors, and organizations should support long-term peace-building initiatives.
Author: Paul D. Williams Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ISBN: 1509509089 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 400
Book Description
After the Cold War, Africa earned the dubious distinction of being the world's most bloody continent. But how can we explain this proliferation of armed conflicts? What caused them and what were their main characteristics? And what did the world's governments do to stop them? In this fully revised and updated second edition of his popular text, Paul Williams offers an in-depth and wide-ranging assessment of more than six hundred armed conflicts which took place in Africa from 1990 to the present day - from the continental catastrophe in the Great Lakes region to the sprawling conflicts across the Sahel and the web of wars in the Horn of Africa. Taking a broad comparative approach to examine the political contexts in which these wars occurred, he explores the major patterns of organized violence, the key ingredients that provoked them and the major international responses undertaken to deliver lasting peace. Part I, Contexts provides an overview of the most important attempts to measure the number, scale and location of Africa's armed conflicts and provides a conceptual and political sketch of the terrain of struggle upon which these wars were waged. Part II, Ingredients analyses the role of five widely debated features of Africa's wars: the dynamics of neopatrimonial systems of governance; the construction and manipulation of ethnic identities; questions of sovereignty and self-determination; as well as the impact of natural resources and religion. Part III, Responses, discusses four major international reactions to Africa's wars: attempts to build a new institutional architecture to help promote peace and security on the continent; this architecture's two main policy instruments, peacemaking initiatives and peace operations; and efforts to develop the continent. War and Conflict in Africa will be essential reading for all students of international peace and security studies as well as Africa's international relations.
Author: Donna R. Jackson Publisher: McFarland ISBN: 0786429879 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 241
Book Description
When Jimmy Carter ascended to the U.S. presidency in 1977, he stepped into an office still struggling with the aftermath of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal. As president, he had to administer his foreign policy and fight the Cold War within the limits imposed by both. With the option of traditional military recourse essentially closed to Carter, he redirected American foreign policy to challenge the Soviet Union on a moral level, emphasizing regionalism and human rights. A careful examination of his policy shows that his approach was similar in other parts of the world. Particularly representative were his actions in Ethiopia and Somalia. This analysis of President Carter's foreign policy in the Horn of Africa demonstrates Carter's consistent approach to foreign affairs throughout his administration. It follows the president's deliberate designing of his overall policy and his attempt to regain for the presidency the trust and confidence of the American people. It discusses the ways in which this policy dealt with such issues as human rights abuses, Cold War concerns including a strong Communist bloc presence, and the violation of international law. Finally, the book examines the changes that occurred at the end of Carter's administration and the corresponding changes in policy--but not in motivation.
Author: Alex De Waal Publisher: Indiana University Press ISBN: 9780253344038 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 302
Book Description
Militant Islam is a powerful force in the Horn of Africa, and the U.S. war on terrorism has thrown the region and its politics into the international spotlight. Since the 1990s, when a failed U.S. military mission was called in to maintain order, Islamist organizations, with heavy sponsorship from Saudi Arabia, have multiplied and established much-needed health and education services in the region. However, despite the good that they are clearly providing, these organizations are labeled "terrorist" by the U.S. Islamist extremists have been found to be responsible for the deadly embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania and the attack on an Israeli jet in Mombasa. Since September 11, 2001, global effort has been concentrated on bringing these groups to their knees. Focusing on how Islamist movements have been viewed post-9/11 and how the U.S. agenda is being translated into local struggles in the region, this book is an important step toward understanding the complex dynamics that enfold the region. Contributors are Roland Marchal, A. H. Abdel Salam, M. A. Mohamed Salih, and Alex de Waal.
Author: Redie Bereketeab
Author: Alex de Waal
Author: Gebru Tareke
Author: Radoslav A. Yordanov
Author: Christopher Clapham
Author: Philip Caputo
Author: Terrence Lyons
Author: Paul D. Williams
Author: Donna R. Jackson
Author: Alex De Waal