Genesis and resolution of political violence in Sub-Saharan Africa

Satellites that enable viewers to observe actual fighting on a day-to-day basis have created a heightened awareness of the pervasiveness of violent conflict in the world. The incidents of declared and undeclared war, bombings, assassinations and coups d\u27etat reinforce the reality that conflict is the norm rather than the exception in the politics of nations. The awareness that conflict, once resolved in negotiations between tribal chiefs or through hand-to-hand combat between small group of fighters, may in the immediate future bring civilization to an end through a nuclear holocaust, has accelerated the serious study of the phenomenon by political scientists, sociologists, historians, economists, and psychologists. These studies for the most part have been conducted in the context of the experience of the industrialized, developed nations. Only a limited number of works have focused on the theory, genesis, and resolution of conflict in the African experience