Over the last four decades, Africa has experienced some of the most violent civil wars and other sorts of systemic violence. These conflicts have earned Africa the unique and unenviable image of a continent in retreat and perpetually at war with itself. Military insurgencies have caused regional destabilization and dramatically increased the number of failed states in Africa. In addition to jeopardizing development efforts, this raises doubts as to the nature and viability of post-colonial African state (1). Several normative issues have emerged from the study of these internecine conflicts. First, they have raised anew the importance of state legitimacy (2). Second, they have brought forward disturbing questions about the concepts of territorial sovereignty and statehood, given the fact that the juridical statehood attained with decolonization has proven inadequate (3).

In Comprehending and Mastering African Conflicts, teams of African scholars (based in those countries principally affected by these conflicts) examine the multidimensional causes with the eyes of observer-analysts. This volume combines the proactive policy research efforts of the African Centre for Development and Strategic Studies with the products of an international conference on African conflicts. It includes the critical assessments of country research teams in five of the conflict areas and a selection of papers, allowing for closer comparison of the many difficult situations on the continent.

Conflicts in Africa are more striking for their causal similarities than differences. While most conflicts in Africa share a number of underlying causes, the researchers identify political leadership at the root of all African conflicts. This does not exculpate some "externally initiated and funded development strategies such as structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) [that] have been a major contributing factor in the emergence of conflicts and/or in their exacerbation" (p. 12). In fact, economic conditions of most of these African countries account for the success of African elites and politicians, since in Africa "it is generally believed that political power means success and prosperity, not only for the man who holds it but for his family, his birthplace and even his whole region of origin" (p. 44).

This book is a proactive, policy-oriented search for the root causes of African conflicts. While highlighting some common obstacles to redressing African conflicts, it posits that "until the root causes of conflicts have been fully comprehended and addressed, they cannot be mastered and that the mastery of conflicts is imperative to achieve lasting peace and good governance in any country" (p. 7). Strategies for the way forward are discussed in Chapter Seventeen. Among other recommendations, the contributors propose a moratorium on the importation of arms, governmental decentralization, and democratization through constitutional arrangements. The various chapters also emphasize the importance of thorough and in-depth knowledge of these conflicts amongst the international community. As the editor points out, the "superficial understanding of both the uniqueness and complexity of African conflicts and of the tendency on the part of the donors to view Africa's problems through the lenses of western countries and societies accounts for their inappropriate policy prescriptions about peace" (p.17).

The book's qualitative research base makes it invaluable to international policy makers and students of policy development, as well as scholars in political science, history, anthropology and other disciplines concerned with solving Africa's seemingly intractable conflicts. I also highly recommend it to African public office holders and politicians who have turned Africa into a continent where forward and backward movements frequently equal zero.

Shedrack Chukwuemeka Agbakwa
Dalhousie University Law School
Halifax, Nova Scotia

Notes

1. See Makau wa Mutua, "Putting Humpty Dumpty Back Together Again: The Dilemmas of the Post-Colonial African State" (1995) 21 Brooklyn Journal of International Law 505.

2. See generally, E.K. Quashigah & O.C. Okafor (eds.), Legitimate Governance in Africa (Netherlands: Kluwer, 1999).

3. See Makau wa Mutua, "Why Redraw the Map of Africa: A Moral and Legal Inquiry" (1995) 16 Michigan Journal of International Law 1113 at 1114.