The new South Africa, as well as the surrounding southern region, is finally free of apartheid and colonial rule. Civil wars have ended; democracy is everywhere. Economically, South Africa and the region are beginning to grow more rapidly than ever before. But serious impediments to sustainable growth and effective participatory government remain. President Nelson Mandela's African National Congress won a strong victory in South Africa's 1994 elections and has governed with skill and ambition ever since. Nevertheless, crime rates have soared, as have the number of illegal and conventional...

With so much attention paid to America's war on terror in Afghanistan and Iraq, the world has all but forgotten the spread of terrorism in other regions. From South Asia to South America, terrorist groups are on the rise. One of the most dangerous regions is the greater Horn of Africa along with Yemen, its volatile neighbor. This book offers authoritative insight into the struggle against terrorism in the Horn--what has been done and what work remains. Robert Rotberg and his colleagues analyze the situation in Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. The esteemed...

This book examines the origins and consequences of Burma's current policies from military, political, social, and economic perspectives. It analyzes the Asian decision to "constructively engage" Burma, especially in economic affairs, versus the position of the United States and many other Western countries to treat Burma as a pariah. Other chapters focus on the drug trade (Burma produces more than 60 percent of the world's heroin), the growing role of China as Burma's military and economic "big brother," political culture and democratic traditions, the unsustainable nature of current...

The world is awash with ethnic and religious conflict. Nearly 5 million people have lost their lives and more than 50 million have been displaced in the maelstrom of intergroup conflict since 1990. During that same period, there have been about 60 civil wars and war-like intrastate battles. While ethnic, religious, and cultural fratricide remain a constant global theme, there are regions where preventive diplomacy has avoided, limited, or restrained such hostilities. In some situations, early warning was timely, but no one listened. In others, early warning was converted into effective...

"An exciting and wide-ranging exploration of the myths and narratives that lie behind the unresolved Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts.... Anyone dedicated to the fullest possible understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will want to read this volume cover to cover." --Neil Caplan, Vanier College, Montreal

Why does Hamas refuse to recognize the legitimacy of the state of Israel? Why do Israeli settlers in the West Bank insist that Israel has a legitimate right to that territory? What makes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so intractable? Reflecting both Israeli...

Repressive regimes tyrannize their own citizens and threaten global stability and order. These repositories of evil systematically oppress their own people, deny human rights and civil liberties, severely truncate political freedom, and prevent meaningful individual economic opportunity. Worst of the Worst identifies and characterizes the world's most odious states and singles out which repressors are aggressive and, hence, can truly be called rogues.

Previously, determinations have been based on inexact, impressionistic criteria. In this volume, Robert Rotberg and his...

The threat of terror, which flares in Africa and Indonesia, has given the problem of failed states an unprecedented immediacy and importance. In the past, failure had a primarily humanitarian dimension, with fewer implications for peace and security. Now nation-states that fail, or may do so, pose dangers to themselves, to their neighbors, and to people around the globe: preventing their failure, and reviving those that do fail, has become a strategic as well as a moral imperative. State Failure and State Weakness in a Time of Terror develops an innovative theory of state failure that...

In this comprehensive narrative of the political and economic evolution of Africa, Robert I. Rotberg explains the critical events, players and policies in the continents tumultuous shift toward democracy. The book reviews the process of decolonization throughout the continent--and subsequent debut of democracy and authoritarianism--the transition of settler-run Rhodesia into African Zimbabwe, and the battle for Southern Africa. Rotberg then traces the epic struggle to free South Africa from the yoke of apartheid, including the contributions of leaders such as Nelson Mandela. He concludes...