A Strategic Vision for Africa - by Francis M Deng & I William Zartman (Paperback)

About the Book

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Increasingly marginalized since the end of the Cold War, the continent of Africa is struggling to identify both the root causes and possible solutions to the maladies that continue to plague it. The problems read like a laundry list of misrule in the aftermath of de...

Book Synopsis

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Increasingly marginalized since the end of the Cold War, the continent of Africa is struggling to identify both the root causes and possible solutions to the maladies that continue to plague it. The problems read like a laundry list of misrule in the aftermath of decolonization: rampant political corruption, internecine wars, widespread disease, underdevelopment, and economic collapse. In the early 1990s, a group of statesmen, academics, and civil leaders from all over Africa gathered to put together a comprehensive plan to make the continent become less dependent on the rest of the world and prepare it to compete in the new globalizing economy. Those who gathered to write what would come to be known as the Kampala Document envisioned an organization which would succeed where the Organization for African Unity (OAU) had failed. This new organization, the Conference on Security, Stability, Development and Cooperation in Africa (CSSDCA), will provide a forum for discussion of democratization, security issues, and sustainable development. This new book by noted scholars Francis Deng and I. William Zartman provides a ""mid-course"" appraisal of the progress of the CSSDCA, as well as charting its future in relation to other regional organizations. With a preface by President Olusegun Obasanjo, this book will undoubtedly become an important tool in understanding Africa's present and future. Francis Deng is a nonresident senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies program at the Brookings Institution. His books include Masses in Flight: The Global Crisis of Internal Displacement (Brookings, 1998, with Roberta Cohen), The Forsaken People: Case Studies of the Internally Displaced (Brookings, 1998, co-edited with Roberta Cohen). I. William Zartman is Jacob Blaustein Professor of International Organizations and Conflict Resolution and Director of African Studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.

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Review Quotes

.".. chronicle[s] efforts by a determined group of leaders to create a united and cooperative region and a secure, stable, and economically viable continent.... An important work that testifies to what could be done, were African leaders serious, to give Africa a chance to develop." --Matthew Houngnikpo, Miami University of Ohio, "African Studies Review", 7/1/2004

"An important commentary on Africa's political evolution." --Gail M. Gerhart, "Foreign Affairs", 1/1/2003

"The title to this slim and very readable volume connotes its importance. It is about Africa's future and what we can learn from the Kampala Movement to enhance that future....The heart of the book explains why it has been so difficult to travel down such a clearly marked path. This alone is well worth reading for anyone interested in Africa in general, and in the failures of the last decade in particular....This book provides a rich understanding of Africa." --James J. Hentz, Virginia Military Institute, "European Journal of Development Research", 6/1/2003

About the Author

"Francis M. Deng is a nonresident senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies program at the Brookings Institution and co-director of the Brookings-SAIS Project on Internal Displacement. He has served as the Sudan's minister of state and foreign affairs; as its ambassador to Canada, the United States, and Scandinavia; and as special representative of the United Nations secretary-general for internally displaced persons. I. William Zartman is director of the African Studies and Conflict Management programs at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University. Olusegan Obasanjo was formerly president of Nigeria and a general in the Nigerian military. He established the Africa Leadership Forum."