November Books 9) From Genocide to Continental War, by Gérard Prunier

[nwhyte]

I read this book sitting beside its author on a trans-Atlantic plane flight, which is an unusual level of interaction. It is a tremendously detailed account of how, in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide, the new Rwandan government invaded its neighbour Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) kicking off a conflict that sucked in military

Comments

[chickenfeet2003]

The state is always somebody's state, never the State in the legal abstract form beloved of Western constitutional law

So does it make sense to treat such states as if they were "State in the legal abstract form beloved of Western constitutional law"? International diplomacy and international law appear to treat Mugabe's Zimbabwe on the same basis as, say, Denmark, which has never made much sense to me.

[yiskah]

Apologies if this comment is trying to teach my grandmother to suck eggs, as it were, but have you read Jean-Francois Bayart's The State in Africa?

[smhwpf]

Looks like one we could do with on SIPRI's shelves (if we had any money right now).

I think one of the reasons for western inaction is that instability has never posed a threat to security of supply of resources - unlike, say, the Gulf where there is a very real fear of the potential for oil supplies to be cut off as a result of conflict. But as mining companies can always do a deal with whatever armed group controls a particular area, and probably hire a private security firm to protect them and secure the surrounding area, conflict and instability do not pose a strategic threat despite the crucial nature of the resources.