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Product Description: Sierra Leone's current predicament can best be understood within a continuum spanning its precolonial to its more contemporary history. This study traces the contradictions of the historical legacy and the excesses of the independent nation-state to unravel the sequences of dependency that culminated almost inevitably in political instability, unprecedented socio-economic decline, and civil war...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

With the departure of the Soviets and Cubans from Southern Africa, South-Saharan Africa no longer comprises a part of the West's core strategic interest. America's experience in Somalia illustrated the folly of addressing with force what was essentially a humanitarian problem derived from the utter failure of the economic development of the third world. The human tragedy in Rwanda highlighted the seemingly interminable demands for external aid and Liberia has depicted the gruesome realities of human failure in the only African land with at least historic (but non-colonial) ties to the US. This text provides an examination of one dimension of peacekeeping in Africa - ECOMOG's role in the attempt to bring peace to Liberia and the impact of this operation on the region.

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