Civil Wars in Africa

Civil Wars in Africa examines civil conflicts in various African countries, arguing that they are by-products of post-colonial state-building and nation-building projects that have failed to build societies that invest in the material well-being of citizens, protect their rights, promote accountability, and promote ethnic pluralism. The contributors show that the post-colonial states in Africa have been ruled by corrupt and autocratic leaders obsessed with the maintenance of state power through illegal means, leading to the erosion of the legitimacy of the state and its custodians.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 358 pages
Publication date: 31 January 2024
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Civil Wars in Africa, edited by Kelechi A. Kalu and George Klay Kieh, Jr., delves into civil conflicts across various African countries. The authors contend that these conflicts arise as a result of the contradictions and challenges stemming from post-colonial state-building and nation-building endeavors in Africa. With few exceptions, post-colonial states in Africa have fallen short in their efforts to establish societies that prioritize the material well-being of their citizens, safeguard their political, civil, and other rights, foster accountability, transparency, the rule of law, judicial independence, and the conduct of free and fair elections, and promote ethnic pluralism, tolerance, mutual respect, and peaceful coexistence. Furthermore, the contributors highlight the prevalence of corrupt and autocratic leaders in post-colonial Africa who prioritize the maintenance of state power as a means to accumulate wealth through illegal means, including bribery, extortion, and theft of public funds. Collectively, this volume explores how the failure of the post-colonial African state to effectively shepherd the process of building democratic societies grounded in human security has resulted in the erosion of the state's legitimacy and the custodians of its authority. Consequently, when these contradictions and crises reach a tipping point, post-colonial societies succumb to civil wars, even at the local level.

Weight: 540g
Dimension: 228 x 150 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781793649355