Portuguese Colonies Victory Or Death

Guinea-Bissau is a small country in West Africa, and yet it managed to wrest its independence from Portugal back in 1973, at the cost of a long and bitter struggle against seemingly implacable odds. This was a time to be proud of, and there was also a moment about two decades ago, when it looked like a trendsetter for democracy. Since then things have gone seriously wrong, with a collapsing infrastructure, a dilapidated economy and a political stage prone to military coups d’etats. This fourth edition of Historical Dictionary of Guinea-Bissau tells the long and sometimes unpleasant story. However, like all the country historical dictionaries, it tells it several times and in several ways. First, the chronology traces the history of what became Guinea-Bissau, and this over a period of centuries and not just decades. Then the introduction recounts that history again, providing more insight and understanding, and conveys a good idea of how things are going now. The details follow in the dictionary section with entries on important persons, places, institutions, and events among other things. And the bibliography points to further reading.

Nationalism and Territoriality in Barue and Mozambique by André van Dokkum compares the precolonial Kingdom of Barue with postcolonial Mozambique and shows that the former is a better example of successful nationalism than the latter.

Published in association with Africa Information Service.

As the author makes clear, every book has a history; Guerrilla Warfare is no exception. Together with its sequel Terrorism (and two companion readers) it was part of a wider study: to give a critical interpretation of guerrilla and terrorism theory and practice throughout history. It did not aim at providing a general theory of political violence, nor did it give instructions on how to conduct guerrilla warfare and terrorist operations. Its aim remains to bring about greater semantic and analytic clarity, and to do so at psychological as well as political levels.While the word guerrilla has been very popular, much less attention has been given to guerrilla warfare than to terrorism - even though the former has been politically more successful. The reasons for the lack of detailed attention are obvious: guerrilla operations take place far from big cities, in the countryside, in remote regions of a nation. In such areas there are no film cameras or recorders.In his probing new introduction, Laqueur points out that a review of strategies and the fate of guerrilla movements during the last two decades show certain common features. Both mainly concerned nationalists fighting for independence either against foreign occupants or against other ethnic groups within their own country. But despite the many attempts, only in two placesAfghanistan and Chechnya were the guerrillas successful.According to Laqueur historical experience demonstrates that guerrilla movements have prevailed over incumbents only in specific conditions. Due to a constellation of factors, ranging from modern means of observation to increase in firepower. The author suggests that we may witness a combination of political warfare, propaganda, guerrilla operations and terrorism. In such cases, this could be a potent strategy for unsponsored revolutionary change. But either as social history or military strategy this work remains a crucial work of our times.

The nineteen sixties and seventies have been troubled times for Africa. The West's rush to decolonize left an open door for the world's new colonizing super-power - Russia. When Russia and, to a lesser extent China, moved through that door, the stage was set for the chaos and bloodshed that has become part and parcel of life on the continent. Ian Greig, Deputy Director of the Foreign Affairs Research Institute in London and author of the authoritative The assault on the West has taken a close look at the pattern of events that has emerged in Africa and makes it plain that foreign Communism is using the "liberation" of Africa as a stepping stone to its self-proclaimed goal of world domination. South Africa, South West Africa and Rhodesia are clearly obstacles on the way to this goal - obstacles that Moscow would very much like removed. The conclusions drawn by the author are not pleasant, but they must be faced.