Wow! eBook
African Conflicts and Informal Power: Big Men and Networks
Author(s): Mats Utas (Author, Editor)
- Publisher: Zed Books
- Publication Date: 8 Mar. 2012
- Edition: 1st
- Language: English
- Print length: 264 pages
- ISBN-10: 1848138830
- ISBN-13: 9781848138834
Book Description
Through a variety of in-depth case studies, including the DRC, Sierra Leone and Liberia, this comprehensive volume shows how important informal political and economic networks are in many of the continent’s conflict areas. Moreover, it demonstrates that without a proper understanding of the impact of these networks, attempts to formalize African states, particularly those emerging from wars, will be in vain.
Editorial Reviews
Review
This fascinating and important set of studies emphasises the critical role of Big Men, and the networks that they operate, in the struggles for control of Africa’s resources that increasingly define the contours of conflict on the continent – and provides essential insights for anyone who seeks to establish fairer and more peaceful structures for resource management. –Christopher Clapham, Cambridge University.
‘This fascinating and important set of studies emphasises the critical role of Big Men, and the networks that they operate, in the struggles for control of Africa’s resources that increasingly define the contours of conflict on the continent – and provides essential insights for anyone who seeks to establish fairer and more peaceful structures for resource management.’ –Christopher Clapham, Centre of African Studies, Cambridge University.
