African Interstate Conflict: A Perceptual Approach

The study of interstate conflict in Africa has focused largely on the following factors as causes of tension between states: undemarcated borders, irredenta, resource distribution and refugee questions, liberation wars, or conflict as diversion from domestic political and/or economic crises. There has been little attempt to examine the dynamic between subjective images that African leaders hold of each other, their perception of events and the above-mentioned empirical factors. As the leaders manage national interests, their perception of other elites and the events they create or shape may or may not foster an environment conducive to conflict. Through a textual analysis of elite public statements, this work examines the role of leadership perception in interstate conflicts on the continent within the past quarter century.