African Frontiers

John Idriss Lahai is a Visiting Research Scholar at Flinders University, South Australia. He was awarded his PhD at the University of New England, Australia. Much of Dr. Lahai's research and applied work has investigated the experiences of vulnerable groups on the margins of society. Tanya Lyons is the President of the African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific, the Editor of the Australasian Review of African Studies, and a Senior Lecturer specialising in teaching African Political History at Flinders University, Australia.

’This is more than just another book on insurgency, governance and peacebuilding in Africa. Its ingenuity is grounded upon the lucidity with which unpretentious but disparate facts about Africa's postcolonial challenges are assembled into a comprehensible, multi-disciplinarily logical unity. Indeed, the book has set the bar very high for similar works that will follow.’ Abdul Karim Bangura, Howard University and American University's Center for Global Peace, USA ’This book offers the most comprehensive scholarly lens for understanding the internal and external geopolitical, economic, and cultural challenges that have dominated the postcolonial era in Africa. Superbly woven into the narratives are detailed analyses of the causes of the stunted economies brought about by the persistence of violent armed conflicts and the peace-building strategies to resolve these conflicts. An illuminating and thought-provoking book highly recommended for Africanist scholars.’ John A. Arthur, University of Minnesota, Duluth, USA

• Part I Insurgency and Governance; Chapter 1 Understanding Postcolonial African Frontiers: History, Theory, Policy and Practice, John Idriss Lahai, Tanya Lyons; Chapter 2 The West African Warscapes: Rebel Factions, Insurgent Opportunism and State Governance, John Idriss Lahai, Tanya Lyons; Chapter 3 Reconsidering Rebel Governance, Isabelle Duyvesteyn, Georg Frerks, Boukje Kistemaker, Nora Stel, Niels Terpstra; Chapter 4 Embracing Neo-Liberalism in Uganda and Rwanda, Noel Twagiramungu; Chapter 5 The International Responsibility to Protect and the Conflict in Darfur, John Idriss Lahai; Chapter 6 State Collapse, Counter-Insurgency and Security Governance in Somalia, Oscar Gakuo Mwangi; Chapter 7. The paper is revised here with copyright permission., Daniel E. Agbiboa; Part II Peacebuilding; Chapter 8 Coping with Vulnerability: Civil War Avoidance in Guinea 1984–2010, Mamadou Diouma Bah; Chapter 9 Breaks with the Past: Conflict, Displacement, Resettlement and the Evolution of Forest Socio-Ecologies in Sierra Leone 1 Funding for this research was provided by the European Union and the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) through the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) support program, as well as the Promoting Agriculture, Governance and the Environment (PAGE) program sponsored by USAID, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada., Paul Munro, Greg van der Horst; Chapter 10 Arming Community Vigilantes in the Niger Delta: Implications for Peacebuilding, Kialee Nyiayaana; Chapter 11 Neo-Liberal Peacebuilding in Libya: Sketching the Path to Reconciliation, Saira Bano Orakzai; Chapter 12 Building Peace with Warlords in South Sudan: A Gendered Structure, David John Duriesmith; Chapter 13 Peacebuilding in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mbekezeli Comfort Mkhize; Chapter 14 From Insurgency to Governance and Peacebuilding: Africa’s Future, John Idriss Lahai, Tanya Lyons;