A History of Modern Sudan

Chronological account of Sudan's history from 1821 to the present, showing how ethnic divisions and failed leadership have sustained conflicts.

Robert O. Collins (Author)

9780521674959, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 29 May 2008

360 pages, 24 b/w illus. 14 maps
22.5 x 15 x 2 cm, 0.57 kg

'… Collins takes on a fascinating journey through the recent history of Sudanese governments … a highly readable, revealing and thought-provoking narrative.' The Journal of Modern African Studies

Sudan's modern history has been consumed by revolution and civil war. The country attracted international attention in the 1990s as a breeding ground of Islamist terrorism and recently tensions between the prosperous centre and the periphery, between north and south, have exploded in Darfur. In his latest book, Robert Collins, a frequent visitor and veteran scholar of the region, traces Sudan's history across two hundred years to show how many of the tragedies of today have been planted in its past. The story begins with the conquest of Muhammad 'Ali in 1821, and moves through the Anglo-Egyptian condominium to independence in 1956. It then focuses on Sudanese rule in the post-independence years when the fragile democracy established by the British collapsed under sectarian strife. It is these religious and ethnic divides, the author contends, in conjunction with failed leadership, which have prolonged and sustained the conflict in Sudan.

1. The making of modern Sudan: the nineteenth century
2. The Anglo-Egyptian condominium
3. Parliamentary and military experiments in government, 1956-1969
4. The government of Ja'afar Numayri: the heroic years, 1969-1976
5. The government of Ja'Afar Numayri: the years of dismay and disintegration, 1976-1985
6. The TMC and third parliamentary government
7. The Islamist revolution: the Turabi years, 1989-1996
8. The Bashir years: beleaguered and defiant
9. War and peace in the southern Sudan
10. Disaster in Darfur
Epilogue.

Subject Areas: Politics & government [JP], Islamic studies [JFSR2], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], African history [HBJH], General & world history [HBG], Development studies [GTF]