ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines a set of security issues that confront all African states. It focuses on a variety of local, interstate, and global events, and on providing the reader with an understanding of the most pressing security problems of African states. The book analyzes the persistent inability of the African state to effectively control and manage its affairs and the continued dominance of ethnic, tribal, and religious factors in domestic politics. It explores the continued utility of South African liberation as a rallying point for African solidarity and the effectiveness of that solidarity in achieving change in the region. The book discusses the growing superpower rivalry in Africa, the central role economically and militarily of former colonial powers and emerging Third World powers. It describes the increasingly frequent tendency of African states to intervene militarily in the affairs of their neighbors.
