{"product_id":"9781848138834","title":"African Conflicts and Informal Power: Big Men and Networks","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the aftermath of an armed conflict in Africa, the international community both produces and demands from local partners a variety of blueprints on how to reconstruct state and society. The aim is to re-formalize the state after what is viewed as a brief or extended period of fragmentation and informalization caused by armed conflict. In reality, both African economies and politics are very much informal in character, with informal actors (including so-called \"Big Men\") often using their positions in the formal structure as a means to reach informal goals. Through a variety of in-depth case studies - from DRC to Somali to Liberia among others - this book shows how important informal political and economic networks are in many of the continent's conflict areas. More than this, it demonstrated that without a proper understanding of their impacts in areas such as borderlands and in \"narco-states\" such as Guinne-Bissau, attempts to \"formalize\" African states, particularly those emerging from wars, will be in vain.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Zed Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47059323355376,"sku":"9781848138834","price":134.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781848138834_p0.jpg?v=1769895145","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781848138834","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}