| dc.description.abstract | This research is a historical analysis of the relationship between the Cold War and the
Sudanese civil war for the period 1956-1989. The study seeks to demonstrate that the
external events did affect the nature of the Sudanese civil war. Research shows that
beginning from 1956, when Sudan got its independence, up to 1989, when the Berlin
Wall collapsed, internal developments in Sudan were, at times though not always, shaped
by external events. The study argues that the nature of these external events and their
impact on the civil war have to be understood from a Cold War perspective. Thus, even
though there were other external events that affected the civil war, such as the Arab-
Israeli conflict, it was the Cold War that formed the overarching structure through which
these other developments have to be understood.
Consequently, the demise of the Cold War, which led to a structural change in the
international system and made the USA the sole Superpower, also affected the nature of
the war. Research shows that issues such as human rights, humanitarian interventions and
the legitimacy of ethnic grievances, long suppressed under the rubric of Cold War
politics, now took centre stage. And in so doing, they impacted on the Sudanese civil war
and affected its nature. | en |
