Table of Contents

Part 1 Background and context: the problem of national identity and historical legacies; the contradictory policies of Numairi 1969-1985. Part 2 Democratic period 1985-1989: the transition to democracy; polarization during the parliamentary period; efforts to resolve the civil war. Part 3 Polarization under the Islamist government: the evolving political system; indoctrination and control; fragmented opposition; the impasse in negotiations; emerging consensus within the opposition movement. Appendix: the changing composition of governments.

Reviews

It is crisply and clearly written, with excellent footnotes and bibliography, and should be read not only by those seeking to understand Muslim-Christian conflicts but by all with a concern for refugees, for the victims of human rights' abuses and even more general concerns about the instability of Africa. No specialist knowledge is required.
*THEOLOGICAL BOOK REVIEW*

The emphasis here is on the years since the second civil war began in 1983, and as this is the period for Sudan as a whole on which less has been produced than the earlier war and the Addis Ababa agreement, the book is to be welcomed ... Students of Sudanese studies will be grateful to Ann Lesch for pulling so much material together in this book.
*JOURNAL OF MODERN AFRICAN STUDIES*

This is a refreshingly straightforward political history of the Sudan which aims primarily to clarify and elucidate what has become of one of the most intractable civil wars in Africa. The study's approach is limpid: the author attempts to explain in detail how the country has suffered from an absence of political consensus... Mosley Lesch confirms what is widely suspected about the Sudan: namely that the Arabic speaking Muslim political elite have found it difficult, if not downright impossible, to give proper expression to the cultural and political demands of the southern peoples.
*INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS*