Routledge Handbook of Conflict Response and Leadership in Africa

Book excerpt: This handbook explores the challenges and opportunities for leadership and conflict response in the context of Africa at several levels. Leadership plays a vital role in affecting conflict response but is frequently only examined at the macro level of state, government, and international organizations. This handbook addresses the need to explore challenges and opportunities for leadership at several levels: macro (global, regional, national), meso (NGOs, religious groups, academics), and micro (civil society organizations, youth groups, women’s organizations). Analysis from multiple levels provides a broader explanation of conflict dynamics and helps to fit localized conflict transformation approaches into wider national or regional structures. The multidisciplinary essays presented in this volume encompass the psychological, political, and structural dimensions of conflict response and demonstrate how its success is fundamentally linked to the style of effectiveness of leadership, among other factors. The volume is divided into four thematic sections: Part I: The theory and dynamics of conflict response and leadership Part II: Macro-level leadership experiences in conflict response Part III: Meso-/micro-level leadership experiences in conflict response Part IV: Recommendations for improved leadership in conflict response This book will be of much interest to students of conflict resolution, peace studies, African politics, security studies, and international relations, in general.