Book Notes
| Published date | 01 March 2006 |
| Date | 01 March 2006 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002234330604300223 |
| Author | Håvard Hegre |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
BOOK NOTES 235
provides a condensed history of conflict in
Darfur, including effects of the Mahdist revol-
ution (1881–98); the Darfur policy of the Anglo-
Egyptian Condominium (1898–1956); political
developments since independence; Darfur’s role
in the thirty-year, low-intensity conflict between
Chad and Libya; and the civil strife during the
1980s and 1990s. The second part of the book
accounts for the escalation of conflict in Darfur
since 2003. Here, the chronological approach is
partly abandoned for a discussion of various
aspects of the conflict. Among these are the
consequences of power struggles in Khartoum;
the effect of the peace negotiations between the
Sudanese government and SPLM/A; the central
government’s recruitment and use of the local
militia groups (Janjawiid) in ethnic cleansing
operations; the political reactions of international
society; and the significance of humanitarian
assistance. The author also discusses whether the
conflict qualifies as a ‘genocide’. Obviously, it is a
considerable challenge to describe and analyse
issues and processes which are not concluded, in
particular for a complex case such as the current
conflict in Darfur. It is to be expected that future
books and articles will provide more details and
different approaches to this case. However, for the
time being, Prunier’s book is the only accessible
account of the Darfur case. Hence, it should
prove useful for diplomats, aid workers and jour-
nalists, as well as anyone else who cannot wait for
the benefit of hindsight.
Øystein H. Rolandsen
Richards, Paul, ed., 2005. No Peace, No War:
An Anthropology of Contemporary Armed Conflicts.
Athens, OH: Ohio University Press. x + 214 pp.
ISBN 0852559356.
War is often conceived of as a unique social state.
The theme of this book is that ‘war is a social
project among other social projects’ (p. 5). The
goal, then, is to deny war its special status. As a
series of ten ethnographies detailing the sundry
processes that compose civil conflict, the book
succeeds well. The cases studied are placed on a
‘bell curve’ of latent conflict, full-blown war, and
postwar peace. Burkina Faso, for example, repre-
sents peace with the potential for violence; Sierra
Leone is presented as an example of intense
warfare; and Zimbabwe demonstrates a case of
postwar peace. The essays deal with a range of
phenomena, such as organization reconciliation,
the mobilization of identities, and trust in
violence-fragmented societies. Particularly notable
are the essays by Bernhard Helander (to whom the
book is dedicated) on the emergence of grass-roots
social services in Somalia and Björn Lindgren’s
analysis of the emergence of ethnic cleavages
following violence in Zimbabwe. It is unclear,
however, if the overarching concept of removing
the special significance we place on war is as
valuable as the authors intend. While it is obvi-
ously critical to recognize that social contexts are
important and that wars come with different
intensities, it could also be argued that war
operates within and because of different social
modes than those that exist during periods of
peace. Such a possibility does indeed make war a
unique case in some situations. Nonetheless, the
book provides a theoretically interesting set of
ethnographies, making it useful to scholars inter-
ested in the social processes at work in internal
wars.
Eduardo Bruera
Rodger, Nicholas A. M., 2004. The
Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain
1649–1815. London: Allen Lane. ixv + 907 pp.
ISBN 0140288961.
This is the second book in a series of three
covering the history of the British Navy from AD
660 to modern times. The book accounts for the
wars Britain was involved in, the major strategies
of naval operations and the most important
battles, but its primary value lies in setting this in
a wider context: the book offers accounts of the
social history of naval warfare, detailing aspects as
diverse as recruitment (voluntary as well as
forced), mortalities from diseases during opera-
tions, and the development of professional officer
training. It details the changes in the adminis-
tration of the navy at all levels, from the political
contest between the King and Parliament over the
control of the navy to the organization of dock-
yards, as well as the finances of warfare. It also
describes the technological change, over the
period, in ship-building and armaments. Finally,
300 pages of appendices report a wealth of details
regarding, for example, fleets, rates of pay and
manpower. As a uniquely detailed and wide-
ranging study of one particular military organiz-
ation, the study is relevant to current research on
the interaction between political constellations,
military organization, social background and the
occurrence of war.
Håvard Hegre
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