The Great Lakes region of Africa has seen dramatic changes. After a decade of war, repression, and genocide, loosely allied regimes have replaced old-style dictatorships. The Path of a Genocide examines the decade (1986-97) that brackets the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. This collection of essays is both a narrative of that event and a deep reexamination of the international role in addressing humanitarian issues and complex emergencies.

The Path of a Genocide offers readers a perspective in sharp contrast to the tendency to treat a peace agreement as the end to conflict. Adelman and Suhrke demonstrate that peace accords may be just a stage in a cycle of violence, and a very fragile one at that.

As a comprehensive and detailed effort to make sense of the political crisis and genocide in Rwanda and the effects on its neighbors, this volume will be of interest to African studies specialists, human rights activists, and specialists in international affairs.