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Preliminary Material /Stephen Ellis -- 1 Introduction: African Social Movements Or Social Movements In Africa? /Stephen Ellis and Ineke Van Kessel -- 2 Social Movement Theory: Past, Present And Prospects By /Jacquelien Van Stekelenburg and Bert Klandermans -- 3 Speaking To Global Debates Through A National And Continental Lens: South African And African Social Movements In Comparative Perspective /Adam Habib and Paul Opoku-Mensah -- 4 African Civil Society, 'Blood Diamonds' And The Kimberley Process /Lansana Gberie -- 5 The Islamic Courts Union: The Ebb And Flow Of A Somali Islamist Movement /Jon Abbink -- 6 Liberia'S Women Acting For Peace: Collective Action In A War-Affected Country /Veronika Fuest -- 7 Nurtured From The Pulpit: The Emergence And Growth Of Malawi'S Democracy Movement /Boniface Dulani -- 8 Bare-Foot Activists: Transformations In The Haratine Movement In Mauritania /Zekeria Ould Ahmed Salem -- 9 An Islamic Social Movement In Contemporary West Africa: Nasfat Of Nigeria /Benjamin Soares -- 10 The United Democratic Front'S Legacy In South Africa: Mission Accomplished Or Vision Betrayed? /Ineke Van Kessel -- 11 'Campus Cults' In Nigeria: The Development Of An Anti-Social Movement /Stephen Ellis -- Bibliography /Stephen Ellis -- List Of Authors /Stephen Ellis.

This book contains a range of original studies on one of the major challenges in Africa today: the controversial role of youth in politics, conflict and rebellious movements. The issue is not only the drafting of child soldiers into insurgent armies or predatory militias, as in Somalia, Sierra Leone or Congo, but, more generally, that of the problematic insertion of large numbers of young people in the socio-economic and political order of post-colonial Africa. Even educated youths are being confronted with a lack of opportunities, blocked social mobility, and despair about the future. Many of the political antagonisms and conflicts in which youths are involved do not only exist at the discursive level but are being produced by current demographic and socio-political contradictions in Africa. African youth, while forming a numerical majority, largely feel excluded from power, are socio-economically marginalized and thwarted in their ambitions. They have little access to representative positions or political power, which is making for a politically volatile situation in many African countries. The authors address several case studies from across Africa: the Mungiki movement in Kenya, youth agency in southern Sudan in times of war, the challenges of 're-integrating' youthful ex-combatants in Sierra Leone, and street children in Togo. A common aim is to try to explain why patterns of generational conflict and violent response among younger age groups in Africa are showing such a remarkably uneven spread across the continent and to advance the comparative study of youth and generational conflict beyond mere description of the varied empirical cases