Making War and Waging Peace: Foreign Intervention in Africa by David R. SmockReview by: John F. ClarkThe Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 33, No. 1 (Mar., 1995), pp. 158-160Published by: Cambridge University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/161552 .

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I58 REVIEWS

Frontline Nationalism in Angola and Mozambique recognises the likelihood that both Lusophone nations will find it hard to resist conforming to Western dictates, at least in the near future, bearing in mind that their economies have been so severely weakened by such prolonged civil wars, and that both governments were greatly weakened by South Africa's efforts to destabilise them during the i98os. This book was, of course, published before the results of the elections were known in Angola (1992) and Mozambique (1994), but that does not in any way diminish its value. Few if any scholars could have succeeded as well as has David Birmingham in putting so many sophisticated insights in such a compact historical overview of the growth and outcome of nationalism. The author is to be commended for a superior effort.

SYLVESTER COHEN, JR

College of Arts and Science, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Tallahasee

Making War and Waging Peace: foreign intervention in Africa edited by DAVID R. SMOCK Washington, DC, United States Institute of Peace Press, 1993. Pp. Vi + 290.

$32.95. $19.95 paperback.

For those who believed that the question of foreign intervention in African conflicts would no longer be an issue with the end of the cold war, this book will give serious pause. Its very appearance argues for the continuing salience of external interference in African conflicts, especially by great powers. Yet, the book also indicates that the purpose of intervention has changed radically since i989 and that the results can be therapeutic as well as destructive. This dualistic quality of intervention is perhaps cleverly intimated in the title's inversion of normal linguistic usage.

The real strength of David R. Smock's edited collection of research findings lies in the detailed attention given to four different conflicts. Those who specialise in any of the countries covered by one or more chapters are sure to benefit by the following carefully produced overviews: 'Ethiopia and Eritrea: the defeat of the Derg and the establishment of new governments' by Paul Henze; 'The Angolan Civil War and Namibia: the role of external intervention' by Daniel S. Papp; 'Negotiations and the End of the Angolan Civil War' by Abiodun Williams; 'Conflict Resolution in Mozambique' by Witney W. Schneidman; 'External Involvement in the Sudanese Civil War' and 'Negotiations in Sudan' by Ann Mosely Lesch; and 'The Process and Stages of Mediation: two Sudanese cases' by Christopher Mitchell.

Making War and Waging Peace: foreign intervention in Africa does not attempt to define 'intervention', and neither the introduction by David R. Smock and Hrach Gregorian nor the concluding chapter by Chester A. Crocker, 'Afterword: strengthening African peacemaking and peacekeeping', offer much of an overall assessment of the utility or effects of intervention. This shortcoming is sure to put off those of a theoretical bent, but more importantly, it leads to some serious questions about the organisation and focus of this volume. Only three authors pay substantial attention to the

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REVIEWS I59

competitive behaviour of external actors seeking to change domestic outcomes for strategic or ideological reasons, what most observers conceive of as 'intervention'. Two only mention the role of foreign players in passing. Indeed, one of the conclusions reached by Leach in her study of Sudanese negotiations is that

The Koka Dam Declaration of March I 986 and the DUP-SPLM accord of November I1988 were not brokered by external parties. The critical meetings were held on Ethiopian soil, but Mengistu's government provided only the venue, not a legitimizing or mediating role... both sides stressed that the political issues must be resolved by the Sudanese themselves without foreign involvement (p. I 32).

Perhaps not surprisingly, given the publishers, eight chapters focus on external and internal mediation, negotiations, and other aspects of conflict resolution, but this may take unawares those who judge, and purchase, books based on their titles. For instance, 'French, British, and Belgian Military Involvement' by Alain Rouvez addresses aid, foreign troop deployments in peacetime, mediation, and other behaviour not typically thought of as 'intervention' . This may be why the author uses the word 'involvement' in his title, as does Leach in one of hers.

Inattention to the theoretical aspects of intervention leads to some dubious generalisations, such as the assertion by Smock and Gregorian that 'There is substantial correlation between the level of external involvement in Africa's wars and the degree of violence and bloodshed suffered by the armed forces and by civilians' (p. 3). While many of us lament the harm caused by competitive intervention in African conflicts, it is also true that this has played only a limited role in some of Africa's bloodiest conflicts, including the Nigerian civil war or the recent Rwandan tragedy. Schneidman even implies that a lack of (therapeutic) intervention by the major powers prolonged the war in Mozambique, and suggests that the same might be true of the situation in Liberia 'where no western power has committed significant resources to ending the war' (p. 235). Where the various authors often do show considerable theoretical sophistication is on the problem of mediation. The concluding chapter by Sam G. Amoo on the 'Role of the OAU: past, present, and future', for instance, is particularly instructive in illuminating the requirements of a regional organisation in mediating intra-regional conflicts.

All the contributors demonstrate great familiarity with their cases and deft scholarship in presenting them. Although only four chapters have over 30 endnotes, most reveal a full appreciation of the cleavages that have afflicted warring African societies, and the role of foreign 'intervention' in irritating or healing them. In short, what the book forfeits in terms of theoretical sophistication and heavy citation, it makes up in accessibility and utility, as well as being generally well edited - the misidentification of the widely-used textbook edited by John W. Harbeson and Donald Rothchild, Africa in World Politics (Boulder, i99i), notwithstanding (p. 25). Many who just want the facts and some sensible analysis of several cases of foreign 'intervention', understood both as self-serving interference and helpful intercession, will greatly appreciate this book.

It is a pity that other examples of intervention in civil conflicts have been excluded, not least since the introduction sharpens our appetite by briefly

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I6o REVIEWS

mentioning all the countries that have been seriously affected by war during the i98os, albeit explaining that 'the emphasis is on eastern and southern Africa, with particular attention to Angola-Namibia, Mozambique, Ethiopia, and Sudan' (p. 3). The on-going Liberian war is of particular interest because a sub-regional organisation has intervened in the affairs of one of its members, and because it has been so neglected by the Western media. Since the focus of the book is mediation, it is also regrettable that the historical cases of the Nigerian and Zimbabwean conflicts could not be covered - omissions that may be explained by the inclusion of as many as three chapters on the Sudan.

Despite such reservations, many readers will profit from the penetrating and often sensitive case-studies to be found in Making War and Waging Peace. Diplomats and policy advisers now contemplating the Rwandan situation, and specifically the reconstruction of a new government there, will certainly benefit by reviewing them. For scholars, though, the main caveat is that those who analyse conflict resolution and mediation will be more edified by this volume than those studying security or competitive foreign policy behaviour.

JOHN F. CLARK

International Relations Department, Florida International University, Miami

Free at Last? U.S. Policy Toward Africa and the End of the Cold War by MICHAEL CLOUGH New York, Council on Foreign Relations Press, 1992. Pp. x+ I45. $I4.95

paperback.

U.S. Economic Policy Toward Africa by J E F F R E Y H E R B S T New York, Council on Foreign Relations Press, I992. Pp. vi+82. $I2.95

paperback.

The end of the cold war dramatised the limitations of Africa's political independence, as well as the extent of its excessive economic dependence. The continent had existed on the periphery of world politics and international economics for many years, notwithstanding the benefits some of its regimes had derived from exploiting the rivalry between the major power blocks. Since then a number of its states have virtually collapsed, while others are experiencing intolerable levels of socio-economic and political instability, and a brutal impoverishment of their peasant communities. The democracy movement that appeared to be gathering speed at the beginning of the I 990s is still making some progress, but incumbent autocrats and military regimes have devised new ways to hang on to power. These conditions have contributed to an erosion of the sovereignty of many African states as a number of external donors, led by the Washington-based international financial institutions, have imposed political conditionalities through econ- omic stabilisation and structural adjustment programmes.

In short, the re-emergence of global peace and understanding does not appear to have presented Africa with the immense opportunities expected by some observers. The reality is that the post-cold war world has become more volatile and, both economically and politically, less stable and less easily predictable. This undoubtedly helps to explain the US entrenchment from

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