Suchergebnisse

Thirty years ago at the time of their independence the leaderships of Guinea Bissau & Cape Verde united under the single party banner of the PAIGC & declared their joint political objective of the unification of both territories. It is an objective which today, considering the vastly different circumstances of each country, seems almost bizarre. While Guinea-Bissau appears to stagger between political crisis & military interventions on a permanent basis, Cape Verde seems to be extracting itself from the "African space" altogether. This article tracks the widening trajectories of both countries since their independence in an effort to understand why, at the beginning of the new millennium, they appear to face utterly different political & economic prospects. Adapted from the source document.

Africa has accounted for a disproportionate part of the peacekeeping efforts of the United Nations for at least the past fifteen years (Portuguese-speaking Africa being prominent in this). It seems clear that this situation results from difficulties in the implementation of the post-independence state -- whether as a result of externally generated pressures or of internal issues of political culture or both. This extensive intervention in African conflict has been motivated not only by humanitarian imperatives but also by the 'necessity' of maintaining the fabric of the 'Westphalian' system of states (a concern given greater urgency by the 'war on terror'). While there has been considerable discussion of 'African solutions for African problems' as an alternative, it is likely that UN peacekeeping will retain a prominent place in African conflict management for the foreseeable future. Tables. Adapted from the source document.