The Foreign Service Journal, October 2016

72 OCTOBER 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL The book first examines the origins, nature, causes and changing dynamics of violent conflicts, and then discusses mitigation efforts by internal and external actors: Africans, individual nations beyond Africa, and the larger global community through interna- tional and nongovernmental organizations. It concludes with an excellent summary chapter by the editors, who review the authors’ major points and find- ings. It would have helped those unfamiliar with the subject if the editors had started the book by highlighting the significant impact of Africa’s illogical colo- nial borders on its current conflicts, both historically and today. Both by splitting individual ethnic groups between states, and combining mutually hostile groups within the same state, the colonizers virtu- ally guaranteed that violence would follow their departure. Without this fundamental knowledge at the outset, the reader can quickly become lost in Africa’s complexities, even when the material is so well articulated by the authors. Although each author examines different aspects of the topic, there are a number of common threads that run throughout the collection of essays. “Afri- can solutions for African problems”—a phrase often spoken by African leaders— is found in several chapters and examined as it relates to such issues as use of African “eminent persons” in resolving conflicts, how international peacekeeping opera- tions use increasing numbers of African troops, and how Africa’s own capability for dealing with conflicts has continued to dramatically improve. Realistically, though, paying to help resolve conflicts remains part of the “gap,” The Difference Between Needs and Capacities Minding the Gap: African Conflict Management in a Time of Change Edited by Chester A. Crocker and Pamela Aall, CIGI Press, 2016, $38/paperback, $15.38/Kindle, 342 pages. Reviewed By Tibor Nagy Former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Chester Crocker and the founding provost of the U.S. Institute of Peace’s Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuild- ing, Pamela Aall, are joined by 20 other renowned African scholars in Minding the Gap to examine every aspect—past, pres- ent and future—of African conflicts and how to resolve them. The “gap” refers to the difference between the needs and the available resources and capacities—internal, regional, continental and global—to adequately address African conflicts. This work is most timely because Africa is on the cusp of dramatic change—with rapid urbanization, the fastest-growing population and biggest “youth bulge” in the world, and indications that climate change will be particularly devastating for the continent. At the same time, though the number of Africa’s conflicts continues to shrink, some of the remaining ones seem unend- ing, and new types of combatants such as Boko Haram and al-Shabaab are increas- ingly significant. While the book exemplifies the mean- ing of the term “comprehensive” in its scope and content, the immense richness of data, along with the many examples and case studies, can overwhelm the non-academic reader with the feeling of drinking from a fire hose. BOOKS because almost all such funding continues to come fromWestern donors. Another recurring theme is the struc- tural tension inherent in addressing conflicts between the competing interests of the United Nations, the Afri- can Union, Africa’s regional economic communities and individual prominent nations (e.g., the United States, France, Britain). Besides overlaps and uncertainties concern- ing what role each should play, there are situations of duplicative and even competing efforts that serve to confuse and open the door to “resolution shopping” by the involved parties. I saw this firsthand in Ethiopia over many months as mediators from the United States, the European Union, Italy, Algeria and the U.N. literally tripped over each other at Addis Ababa airport trying to end the Ethio-Eritrean War. Despite the incredible effort and duplication of resources, the conflict was only resolved (partially) when Ethiopia defeated Eritrea on the battlefield. The authors also comment extensively, and at times disagree, on whether the key component in conflict resolution involves addressing the “root causes” or the imme- diate “triggers”—furnishing excellent points to support both views. Overall, Minding the Gap is a signifi- cant contribution to the academic study of African conflicts and will be an excellent textbook for advanced courses on the sub- ject. It is not, however, an easy-to-follow roadmap for practitioners or policymakers seeking to navigate the complexities of the topic. During 32 years of U.S. government service, Tibor Nagy spent more than 20 years in Afri-