The dynamics of violence in central Africa / Rene Lemarchand.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lemarchand, René.

Series:

National and ethnic conflict in the twenty-first century

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political violence--Great Lakes Region (Africa).

Political violence.

Geopolitics--Great Lakes Region (Africa).

Geopolitics.

Genocide--Great Lakes Region (Africa).

Genocide.

Africa, Central--Politics and government--1960-.

Africa, Central.

Africa, Central--Economic conditions--1960-.

Africa, Central--Ethnic relations--Political aspects.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (344 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, c2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Endowed with natural resources, majestic bodies of fresh water, and a relatively mild climate, the Great Lakes region of Central Africa has also been the site of some of the world's bloodiest atrocities. In Rwanda, Burundi, and the Congo-Kinshasa, decades of colonial subjugation-most infamously under Belgium's Leopold II-were followed by decades of civil warfare that spilled into neighboring countries. When these conflicts lead to horrors such as the 1994 Rwandan genocide, ethnic difference and postcolonial legacies are commonly blamed, but, with so much at stake, such simple explanations cannot take the place of detailed, dispassionate analysis. The Dynamics of Violence in Central Africa provides a thorough exploration of the contemporary crises in the region. By focusing on the historical and social forces behind the cycles of bloodshed in Rwanda, Burundi, and the Congo-Kinshasa, René Lemarchand challenges much of the conventional wisdom about the roots of civil strife in former Belgian Africa. He offers telling insights into the appalling cycle of genocidal violence, ethnic strife, and civil war that has made the Great Lakes region of Central Africa the most violent on the continent, and he sheds new light on the dynamics of conflict in the region. Building on a full career of scholarship and fieldwork, Lemarchand's analysis breaks new ground in our understanding of the complex historical forces that continue to shape the destinies of one of Africa's most important regions.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

Part I. The Regional Context

Chapter 1: The Geopolitics of the Great Lakes Region

Chapter 2: The Road to Hell

Part II. Rwanda and Burundi: The Genocidal Twins

Chapter 3: Ethnicity as Myth

Chapter 4: Genocide in the Great Lakes: Which Genocide? Whose Genocide?

Chapter 5: The Rationality of Genocide

Chapter 6: Hate Crimes

Chapter 7: The Politics of Memory

Chapter 8: Rwanda and the Holocaust Reconsidered

Chapter 9: Burundi 1972: A Forgotten Genocide

Chapter 10: Burundi at the Crossroads

Chapter 11: Burundi's Endangered Transition

Part III. The Democratic Republic of the Congo: From Failed State to Fragile Transition

Map 5

Chapter 12: A Blocked Transition: Zaire in 1993

Chapter 13: Ethnic Violence, Public Policies, and Social Capital in North Kivu

Chapter 14: The DRC: From Failure to Potential Reconstruction

Chapter 15: The Tunnel at the End of the Light

Chapter 16: From Kabila to Kabila: What Else Is New?

Notes

Index

Acknowledgments

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [281]-311) and index.

ISBN:

9780812202595

0812202597

OCLC:

859160999