Publications
Intervening in Africa
Superpower Peacemaking in a Troubled Continent
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by Herman J. Cohen
(New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000)
268 pp, map, bibliographic notes, index
cloth $65 (members' price $45)
| American Academy of Diplomacy 2000 Award for Distinguished Writing on American Diplomacy |
As the Cold War wound down in 1989, Africa was awash in
civil wars. Ambassador Hank Cohen initiated an aggressive policy of diplomatic
intervention in African conflicts, using the prestige and credibility of the
world's only superpower to search for peace. Cohen details his own and others'
efforts in seven civil wars, with results ranging from heady triumph in
Mozambique to utter disappointment in Angola. At every stage, deadly power
struggles and bureaucratic and political infighting raised formidable obstacles.
In
this account of assertive diplomatic intervention, Hank Cohen describes and
analyzes the art of mediating in the midst of war, techniques of encouraging
negotiation, problems of cease-fires, troop encampment, and demobilization, the
fundamental causes of civil war in Africa, and cultural gaps between mediators
and protagonists. He candidly characterizes key personalities and events and
offers valuable lessons for practitioners of internal conflict resolution. With
civil wars still raging in Africa, Cohen's experiences as a diplomatic
practitioner of conflict resolution and the complex lessons he learned in the
trenches remain as relevant as ever.
"I knew Hank Cohen best when he was Assistant
Secretary of State for African Affairs -- and a superb Assistant Secretary
he was. He had a profound understanding of Africa, with all its variety,
promise, and problems. This book demonstrates that he has lost none of his
skills or wisdom. It demonstrates, as well, that he is a writer who can
reduce compli- icated issues to understandable prose."
A
top specialist in African affairs and a pioneer in promoting democratic
transition, good governance, and civilian control in Africa, Hank Cohen served
38 years in the Foreign Service, reaching in 1991 the highest rank of Career
Ambassador. He was President Reagan's senior advisor on Africa (1987-89) and
Assistant Secretary for African Affairs in the first Bush administration
(1989-93). Earlier he was ambassador to Senegal and the Gambia (1977-80) and
served in Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Paris.
Lawrence S. Eagleburger, former US Secretary of State:
Other Reviews
- Professor I. William Zartman, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies:
"Here are wisdom and insight (and adventure) from some of the best years of US Africa policy by the man who made it.... [R]equired reading for anyone interested in knowing how foreign relations should be practiced and the difficulty of doing so, not just in Africa but anywhere in the world."
- Chester A. Crocker, Chairman, United State Institute of Peace, and former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs:
"This engrossing account of peacemaking in Africa during the immediate post-Cold War transition shows vividly what can be accomplished when US power and credibility are used skillfully by a seasoned professional like Hank Cohen. His seven detailed cases of African civil wars powerfully illustrate the high costs of timidity, tardiness, and obsessive concern with negotiating and getting signatures on peace deals -- as well as the often indispensable role of good timing, good luck, and a top-level mandate. These cases highlight Cohen's style -- direct, cards-on-the-table dealing, dispensing with procedural niceties, a pragmatic approach that includes all voices. In Intervening in Africa, Cohen reveals a rare candor among memoir writers in assessing the successes and failures of his period of service."
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