MACMILLAN Global, Regional and Local Dimensions of Western Sahara’s Protracted Decolonization: When a Conflict Gets Old

This book explores the traces of the passage of time on the protracted and intractable conflict of Western Sahara. The authors offer a multilevel analysis of recent developments from the global to the local scenes, including the collapse of the architecture of the UN-led conflict resolution process, the advent of the War on Terror to the the Sahara-Sahel area and the impact of the ‘Arab Spring’ and growing regional security instability. Special attention is devoted to changes in the Western Sahara territory annexed by Morocco and the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria. Morocco has adapted its governance and public policies to profound socio-demographic transformations in the territory under its control and has attempted to obtain international recognition for this annexation by proposing an Autonomy Plan. The Polisario Front and Sahrawi nationalists have shifted their strategy and pushed the centre of gravity of the conflict back inwards by focusing on pro-independence activism inside the disputed territory. Review “[This] volume … adeptly illustrates how the conflict’s oft-noted intractability entails not only continuity over time, but also the emergence of new dynamics. … Leaving aside causal arguments at a time when conflict resolution appears as distant as ever allows the volume’s contributors to consider emergent developments in the Western Sahara from a wide range of perspectives. This is nowhere more evident than in the series of studies and contributions that engage with identity, subjectivity and lived experience. … This study reflects―or perhaps, even, is a step ahead of―developments in the field by showcasing the burgeoning literature on Western Sahara that engages with lived experience. … This volume represents a major contribution in bringing together contributors from Spain, the UK, France, Mexico and the United States, to break language-based silos that too often inhibit crossfertilization … .” (Mark Drury, The Journal of North African Studies, September 16, 2017) Review “The forty-year protracted conflict in Western Sahara is shows no sign of resolution. The conflict attracts little attention and the scholarly literature on this former colony is rather scant. The chapters in this timely book decipher the main reasons for the stalemate through a judicious combination of theoretical and empirical material. The editors have brought together some of the best scholars from different disciplines to shed light on this complex conflict; this work is a must reading for all students of North African politics and conflict resolution.”  (Yahia H. Zoubir, Professor of International Relations and Management, Kedge Business School, France) “For some years there has been a clear need for a genuinely academic study of the Western Sahara conflict to counterbalance and supersede the many quite partisan accounts of the conflict. By bringing together a wide range of refreshingly younger scholars familiar with the conflict and its various parties, Global, Regional and Local Dimensions of Western Sahara’s Protracted Decolonization provides such a study and is set to be the standard work of reference on the subject for academics, students, writers and policy-makers alike.” (Michael J. Willis, Fellow in Moroccan and Mediterranean Studies, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, United Kingdom) “This in-depth, sophisticated study of the decades-old Western Sahara conflict offers a stark reminder of the powerlessness of international institutions relying on law and  high principles vis-a-vis local actors that can ignore both because they have the ability to create facts on the ground.” (Marina Ottaway, Middle East Fellow, Wilson Center, United States) “This reference work is essential reading for anyone willing to understand the developments of a conflict that has determined inter-state relations within the Maghreb for over 40 years. The contributions of the 20 authors in the volume p