"In April 1994, black and white South Africans for the first time voted in a nonracial election for a democratic government. This watershed election is one of many recent profound changes in Southern Africa, including independence in Namibia, democratic elections in Zambia and Malawi, a peace agreement in Mozambique, and renewed civil war in Angola." "The New Is Not Yet Born explores the sources and dynamics of the political, economic, and diplomatic transformations taking place in Southern Africa. Thomas Ohlson, Stephen John Stedman, and Robert Davies recount how Southern Africa has long endured violent domestic and interstate conflicts, often complicated and intensified by external interventions and interests. The cost of these struggles by all measures has been staggering." "The authors show how conflict in Southern Africa has left, and continues to leave, tremendous socioeconomic destruction. They identify the past, present, and possible future sources of conflict in the region. They describe the security implications of conflict and evaluate the institutions, organizations, and policies that might help reduce or resolve conflict and provide security for the people and countries of Southern Africa." "Although the democratic transition in South Africa opens the possibility of creating a secure Southern Africa, the authors note that past conflict legacies and new unanticipated conflicts could stand in the way. They conclude that the challenge ahead will be to establish new national and regional institutions which enable actors to resolve conflict without resorting to violence. This book suggests ways that international action can help the birth of a new Southern Africa."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

As Julius Nyerere once noted, Africa has largely been the continent of peace, though this fact has not been widely publicised. In reality, Africa possesses dynamic potentials for resolving contradictions and violent ruptures that colonial authorities, post-colonial states and global actors have failed to capture and capitalise upon. Drawing on the everyday experience of rural and urban people in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia and Zambia, this book brings into conversation leading Japanese scholars of Southern Africa with their African colleagues. The result is an exploration in comparative perspective of the fascinating richness of bottom-up African potentials for conflict resolution in Southern Africa, a region burdened with the legacy of settler capitalism and contemporary neoliberalism. The book is a pacesetter on how to think and research Africa in fruitful collaboration and with an ear to the nuances and complexities of the dynamic and lived realities of Africans.

A conference in Harare, Zimbabwe in September 1988, arranged on the initiative of the Southern African Research Association (SADRA) and the Scandinavian Institute of African Studies (SIAS), aimed to initiate research and co-operation between Nordic and Southern African researchers.

This book combines overviews of the nature and causes of inter-group violence in North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa with a collection of country case studies. Both the overview chapter and the case studies trace how economic policy initiatives, and consequent changes in the roles and statuses of various groups, shape conflict or cooperation.