International Library of African Studies – serie

Since 2003, the ongoing violence and subsequent humanitarian crisis in Darfur has attracted significant international media attention. Here, Noah R. Bassil offers a re-conception of the conflict in Darfur by examining the origins and progression of the conflict through the broader issue of state failure in postcolonial Sudan. By moving away from a 'localised' view of the conflict, Bassil is able to demonstrate the extent to which the breakdown of social relations in Darfur is interconnected with the wider breakdown of Sudanese and post-colonial societies more broadly, offering a definitive study of the nexus between international, national and local forces and providing a coherent framework for understanding the causes of the civil war that erupted in the Darfur region of Sudan in 2003. The Post-Colonial State and Civil War in Sudan offers a thorough examination of the historical development of the Sudanese state, from an analysis of the colonial state structure to the post-colonial state struggles and from the failure of the state-led development project to the impact these had on the Darfur region.It therefore demonstrates how Sudan's political instability, recurrent civil wars and crisis of identity provide an important context for understanding why Darfur became the location of a major rebellion against the government in 2003,and in fact created the very conditions for conflict in Darfur. Looking forward towards peace in post-colonial societies, Bassil urges the abandonment of neo-liberal policies and a return to an international system that is based on building state-capacity and state legitimacy as the most effective mechanisms for rebuilding political and social relations in regions that have suffered crises in the post-colonial state. Rather than examining Darfur as a sui generis conflict, through the analysis here, it becomes evident that in fact, the events in Darfur are far from unusual, but part of the wider contemporary demise of the post-colonial state building project. This book therefore provides a unique examination of the conflict and the wider postcolonial situation, making it an important contribution to the fields of History, International Relations and Peace Studies.

Fabled for more than three thousand years as fierce warrior-nomads and cameleers dominating the western Trans-Saharan caravan trade, today the Sahrawi are admired as soldier-statesmen and refugee-diplomats. This is a proud nomadic people uniquely championing human rights and international law for self-determination of their ancient heartlands: the western Sahara Desert in North Africa. Konstantina Isidoros provides a rich ethnographic portrait of this unique desert society's life in one of Earth's most extreme ecosystems. Her extensive anthropological research, conducted over nine years, illuminates an Arab-Berber Muslim society in which men wear full face veils and are matrifocused toward women, who are the property-holders of tent households forming powerful matrilocal coalitions. Isidoros offers new analytical insights on gender relations, strategic tribe-to-state symbiosis and the tactical formation of 'tent-cities'.The book sheds light on the indigenous principles of social organisation - the centrality of women, male veiling and milk-kinship - bringing positive feminist perspectives on how the Sahrawi have innovatively reconfigured their tribal nomadic pastoral society into globalising citizen-nomads constructing their nascent nation-state. This is essential reading for those interested in anthropology, politics, war and nationalism, gender relations, postcolonialism, international development, humanitarian regimes, refugee studies and the experience of nomadic communities.

The dilemmas of African development continue to haunt both African and western institutions and governments. Here, Christopher Rowan offers an original interpretation of the evolving concept of partnership as it operates within the current relationship between the European Union and the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific group. Framing his discussion in terms of the human right to water, Rowan presents detailed case studies of water aid from the EU to Lesotho and Mozambique, and explores the persisting inequities in the discourse and processes of development. With a close analysis of the interaction between non-governmental organisations, local elites, states and international actors, this book is a timely and insightful addition to perspectives on relations between the global North and South.