After the wars : reconstruction in Afghanistan, Indochina, Central America, Southern Africa, and the Horn of Africa

The end of the Cold War is reverberating far beyond its European theatre--in the killing fields of Afghanistan, Indochina, Central America, Southern Africa & the Horn of Africa. For some of these people, peace has come already; for others it is in sight. But beyond peacemaking lie the delicate challenges of peacekeeping & huge tasks of political, social, & economic reconstruction--& construction--in some of the world's poorest areas. The roots of these wars were deeply embedded in indigenous strife & history, but the superpowers--by adding their own ideological & strategic agenda--intensified the bloodshed. The results of the conflicts are appalling: nearly 3 million dead (2.5 million of them civilians); 16 million refugees; battered people, towns, & transport; a generation of unschooled youth & unskilled adults; countrysides planted with explosives; & teeming cities lacking in jobs & essential services. In this, the sixteenth volume in ODC's U.S.-Third World Policy Perspective series, the authors provide valuable timely analysis of the differing problems of polity & economy confronting the governments of these devastated countries. In short, Cyrus R. Vance calls it "a stimulating & provocative book."