It should come as no surprise that a book on US-African relations makes for a relatively slim volume. However, United States Interests and Policies in Africa serves as an excellent primer for the new student of US-African affairs.

The editor of the book, Karl P. Magyar, who wrote three of the book's seven chapters, states in the introduction: "Generally, the shifts over time in America's perceptions of the African continent reflect great initial apprehension of the importance of Africa's emerging state entities whose potential role in the Cold War was very uncertain." This "apprehension" could be the hallmark of any era when changes occurr on the global scene. As a fledgling nation, the United States, seemed mostly concerned with North Africa (due to shipping interests in the Mediterranean Sea) and the slave trade off West Africa. The United States generally kept a distance from matters involving the eastern, southern, or interior regions of the continent, which were the domain of the European powers.

Delving into more recent history of US-African interaction, Mohamad Z. Yakan describes the relationship between the nations of the Mahgreb and the United States quite clearly. His historical overview is enlightening and solid. His finding that geopolitics (protecting Europe and the transport of oil) will continue to determine the nature of American policy regarding North Africa is spot on. Additionally, Yakan's treatment of US-Egyptian relations-as an example of the exception to the rule in US-North African relations-is as concise as it is thorough.

However, Yakan gives little attention to Islamic fundamentalism in places like Algeria. He makes a sweeping generalization in his final passage:
"So far, however, religious extremism in North Africa as elsewhere in the Arab/Muslim Worlds continues to be a highly misunderstood phenomenon in the US. Clearly, as long as this misunderstanding remains, and as long as the political and economic factors underlying the rationale of religious extremism persists, American foreign policy objectives in North Africa will continue to be under siege in some quarters."
Though his conclusion is indeed vague, it does not detract from the overall analysis.

Another problem with the chapter however, was a neglect of detail. Yakan, for instance, mistakenly dates Iraq's invasion of Kuwait as August 2, 1991, when in fact, it occurred on August 2, 1990. Though this error may simply be the result of sloppy scholarship or inattentive editing, it is not a trivial mistake for students of the Middle East: it is as if the date of Japan's attack upon Pearl Harbor was mistakenly identified as December 7, 1940, rather than December 7, 1941.

In the chapter on West Africa, Earl Conteh-Morgan describes the effects of neglect on the region, particularly since the fall of the Soviet Union. He writes:
"Far from ameliorating civil conflict, the post-Cold War situation and the process of democratization has exacerbated or enabled societal cleavages - in particular ethnic conflicts, an insurgency against the state (Sierra Leone), until the election a stalemated situation among warring factions (Liberia), overthrow of one of Africa's longest 'democratic' regimes (Gambia under President Jawara), ethnoregional-based regime intransigence (Togo), and the tenacity of a northern-dominated, self-perpetuating military oligarchy (Nigeria)."
While the conclusion of the Cold War cannot be held as wholly responsible for the above laundry list of calamities and upheaval, the lack of superpower interest has contributed to this situation. In a telling example, the US has failed to replace a Voice of America transmitter and an intelligence listening post in West Africa. Despite the apparent lack of interest in the region, strategic or otherwise, Nigeria, will, in the foreseeable future, play a potentially large role in America's global oil-power game.

Essentially the same indifference by US policymakers regarding the western part of the continent is repeated in both the east and the center regions of Africa. Aside from the adventure earlier in the 1990s in Somalia, US policymakers have been content with letting events take their course in eastern Africa. In Sudan, for example, where famine and inter-religious warfare have killed countless numbers of people, the US remains disengaged-if not disinterested. While the US has enacted modest measures here (as well as in Rwanda and Burundi), Washington D.C. has not made any serious overtures indicating their willingness to actively involve themselves in helping bring the conflicts to a close or better the lives of the citizenry of these nations.

Magyar, in his chapter about southern Africa, controversially states that this area of the continent has received more attention in the US due to the number of caucasians who live (and once ruled) there. Even so, with the threat (real or not) of a Soviet takeover eliminated, the US, Magyar says, will most likely limit its activities in the region.

In his closing remarks, Magyar writes that it will take an "unprecedented global commitment" to address the many needs of modern African nations. This statement however, amounts to little better than wishful thinking, since he does not reveal how such involvement would increase the bottom line for the developed world. Overall though, United States Interests and Policies in Africa is an excellent starting point for understanding the origins of modern American policymaking with regard to Africa.

Sean Patrick Murphy is a Consulting Editor for Current History magazine and an International Affairs Researcher for the Foreign Policy Association.