Book description
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.
"René Lemarchand ranks among the top Africanist political
scientists of his generation, unmatched in his depth of knowledge
about the African Great Lakes. He brings to The Dynamics of
Violence in Central Africa a broad comparative perspective as
well as decades of close observation of the political evolution of the
Great Lakes region."-M. Crawford Young, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Rene Lemarchand is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the
University of Florida.
