Alex de Waal publications
Books
New Pandemics, Old Politics: Two hundred years of war on disease and it’s alternatives
(Polity, 2021)
The book explores how these scripts were drafted, and their consequences for politics and science in the gap between the outbreak of a new pandemic pathogen and the scientific discovery and application of what is needed for containment and cure. It examines three historic pandemics—cholera in 19th century Europe and India, the 1918-19 influenza pandemic, and late-century HIV/AIDS in Africa and around the world—and the preparedness plans for ‘disease X’ over the last 25 years. The goal is to help explain what is familiar and what is unexpected in the current Covid-19 crisis. The book will make the argument for a critical perspective on the politics of pandemics and in favor of a more democratic and inclusive approach to public health.
Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine
(Polity Press, 2018)
The world almost conquered famine. Until the 1980s, this scourge killed ten million people every decade, but by early 2000s mass starvation had all-but-disappeared. Today, famines are resurgent, driven by war, blockade, hostility to humanitarian principles, and a volatile global economy.
In Mass Starvation, world-renowned expert on humanitarian crisis and response Alex de Waal, provides an authoritative history of modern famines: their causes, dimensions, and why they ended. He analyzes starvation as a crime, and breaks new ground in examining forced starvation as an instrument of genocide and war. Refuting the enduring but erroneous view that attributes famine to overpopulation and natural disaster, he shows how political decision or political failing is an essential element in every famine, while the spread of democracy and human rights, and the ending of wars, were major factors in the near-ending of this devastating phenomenon.
Hard-hitting and deeply informed, Mass Starvation explains why man-made famine and the political decisions that could end it for good must once again become a top priority for the international community.
The Real Politics of the Horn of Africa: Money, War and the Business of Power
(Polity Press 2015)
Alex de Waal’s latest book (Polity Press, September 2015) draws on his thirty-year career in Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia, including experience as a participant in high-level peace talks, to provide a unique and compelling account of how these countries leaders run their governments, conduct their business, fight their wars and, occasionally, make peace. De Waal shows how leaders operate on a business model, securing funds for their political budgets which they use to rent the provisional allegiances of army officers, militia commanders, tribal chiefs and party officials at the going rate. This political marketplace is eroding the institutions of government and reversing statebuilding and it is fueled in large part by oil exports, aid funds and western military assistance for counter-terrorism and peacekeeping.
The Real Politics of the Horn of Africa is a sharp and disturbing book with profound implications for international relations, development and peacemaking in the Horn of Africa and beyond.
with Julie Flint. Darfur: A New History of a Long War
(London: Zed Book, 2nd ed. 2008)
The humanitarian tragedy in Darfur has stirred politicians, Hollywood celebrities and students to appeal for a peaceful resolution to the crisis. Beyond the horrific pictures of sprawling refugee camps and lurid accounts of rape and murder lies a complex history steeped in religion, politics, and decades of internal unrest. Darfur traces the origins, organization and ideology of the infamous Janjawiid and other rebel groups, including the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement. It also analyzes the confused responses of the Sudanese government and African Union. This thoroughly updated edition also features a powerful analysis of how the conflict has been received in the international community and the varied attempts at peacekeeping.
AIDS and Power: Why There is No Political Crisis—Yet
(London: Zed Books, 2006)
Part of a series on burning issues confronting Africa and the world, this book talks about AIDS in Africa – what it means for government and democracy. It argues that approaches to the epidemic are driven by interests and frameworks that fail to engage with African resilience and creativity.
Famine that Kills: Darfur, Sudan
(Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. 1989; revised ed. 2004; U.S. ed. 2005)
Demilitarizing the Mind: African Agendas for Peace and Security
(Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2002)
This book highlights a central, but neglected component of Africa’s complicated and intractable wars: the militarization of governance. Political cultures of militarism stand in the way of enduring peace, democracy, and the development of civil society. Militarism comes in both right-wing and left-wing guises—the latter practiced by former liberation fronts in power across much of Africa which have all betrayed the ideals that enthused their earlier struggles. Seven comparative essays, drawn from the experience of conflict and peacemaking, focus on different aspects of militarism in contemporary Africa and ways of overcoming it.
Famine Crimes: Politics and the Disaster Relief Industry in Africa
(Oxford: James Currey, 1997)
Famine is preventable. The persistence of famine reflects political failings by African governments, western donors and international relief agencies. Can Africa avoid famine? When freedom from famine is a basic right or a political imperative, famine is prevented. Case studies from Ethiopia to Botswana demonstrate African successes – but they are often not acknowledged or repeated. Who is responsible for the failures? African generals and politicians are the prime culprits for creating famines in Sudan, Somalia and Zaire, but western donors abet their authoritarianism, partly through imposing structural adjustment programmes. What is the role of International relief agencies? Despite prodigious expenditure and high public profile, relief agencies often do more harm than good. From Biafra to Rwanda, relief has helped to fuel war and undermine democratic accountability. As the influence and resources of UN agencies and NGOs have grown, the chances for effective local solutions have diminished. What is the way forward? Humanitarian intervention and other high-profile relief operations have failed. Progress lies in bringing the fight against famine into democratic politics, and calling to account those guilty of creating famine.
Edited Collections
Book chapters
“Concluding Reflections: Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement: Theories of Change”. In Making and Breaking Peace in Sudan and South Sudan: The Comprehensive Peace Agreement and Beyond, edited by Sarah M. H. Nouwen, Laura M. James, and Sharath Srinivasan, Oxford University Press (February 2021)
de Waal, Alex. “The Horn of Africa and the Yemen Crisis”. In Global, Regional, and Local Dynamics in the Yemen Crisis, Stephen W. Day and Noel Brehony eds., Palgrave MacMillan, 2020
de Waal, Alex. “Sudan.” In Comparing Peace Processes, edited by Alpaslan Özerdem and Roger Mac Ginty, Routledge, April 2019.
de Waal, Alex. “Wars in Africa.” Global Insecurity, Mary Kaldor ed., Continuum 2000
[Expand Non-peer reviewed Book Chapters]
de Waal, Alex and Naomi Pendle. “Decentralisation and the Logic of the Political Marketplace in South”, The Struggle for South Sudan:Challenges of Security and State Formation, Edited by Luka Biong Deng Kuol and Sarah Logan, 172-194. London: I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd. 2019
de Waal, Alex. “A Human Security Strategy for the European Union in the Horn of Africa and Red Sea,”: Kaldor, Mary, Iavor Rangelov, and Sabine Selchow, EU Global Strategy and Human Security: Rethinking Approaches to Conflict. London, Routledge. 2018
de Waal, Alex. “Famine and Epidemic Disease,” for the edited volume: African Muckracking: 75 Years of Investigative Journalism in Africa,. Lugalambi, George W. and Anya Schiffrin, eds, Jacana Media.2018
Reports & Papers
de Waal, Alex and Sarah Nouwen, ‘The necessary indeterminacy of self-determination: Politics, law and conflict in the Horn of Africa,’ Nations and Nationalism, 2020; 1-20
de Waal, Alex. ‘The ambiguities of self‐determination: IGAD and the secession of South Sudan.’ Nations and Nationalism. 2020; 1– 16.Kaldor, Mary and Alex de Waal. ‘Identity formation and the political marketplace,’ Conflict, Security & Development, 20:5, 2020, 519-538.
de Waal, Alex. ‘Somalia’s disassembled state: clan unit formation and the political marketplace,’ Conflict, Security & Development, 20:5, 2020, 561-585
de Waal, Alex. “No End State: Exploring Vocabularies of Political Disorder“, October 2020
Conley, Bridget and Alex de Waal. “The Purposes of Starvation: Historical and Contemporary Uses” Journal of International Criminal Justice, Volume 17, Issue 4, September 2019, Pages 699–722, https://doi.org/10.1093/jicj/mqz054
de Waal, Alex, “Prospects for Democracy in Sudan” series:
de Waal, Alex. “Pax Africana or Middle East Security Alliance in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea?” January 2019
de Waal, Alex. “The Prarie Fire that Burned Mogadishu: The Logic of Clan Formation in Somalia” December, 2018
de Waal, Alex. “Commemorating Starvation in the 21st Century” from an address given at Quinnipiac University October 11, 2018,
de Waal, Alex. “The Emerging Global Order, Multilateralism and Africa” background paper for African Union Annual Mediators’ Retreat, Alex de Waal, October 2017
de Waal, Alex. “South Sudan 2017: A Political Marketplace Analysis,” WPF: February 5, 2017
de Waal, Alex and Mulugeta Gebrehiwot.“African Politics, African Peace”, Report by the WPF to the African Union, 2016 (with a preface by Thabo Mbeki and Lakhdar Brahimi)
“African Union High-Level Panel on Darfur, Darfur: The Quest for Peace, Justice and Reconciliation,” (October 2009). Dr. Alex de Waal, principal author on the drafting team.
de Waal. Alex. “Sudan: What Kind of State, What Kind of Crisis?” LSE Crisis States Research Centre, Occasional Paper No. 2 Apr. 2007
de Waal. Alex. “Sudan: International Dimensions to the State and Its Crisis.” LSE Crisis States Research Centre, Occasional Paper No. 3 Apr. 2007
“Sudan: Denying the Honor of Living,” Africa Watch (1989). Dr. Alex de Waal, principal investigator.
Articles & Op-Eds
Viewpoint: Why Ethiopia and Sudan have fallen out over al-Fashaga,’ BBC, Jan 3, 2020.
‘Viewpoint: How Ethiopia is Undermining the African Union,’ BBC, Nov 29, 2020.
‘As Ethiopia’s army declares daily victories, its people are being plunged into violence,’ The Guardian, Nov 24, 2020
“Violence in Ethiopia Doesn’t Stay There,’ Foreign Policy, Nov 19, 2020
de Waal, Alex. ‘Tigray Crisis Viewpoint: Why Ethiopia is spiralling out of control,’ BBC, Nov 15, 2020,
de Waal, Alex. ‘The Red Sea: “A vital artery for the world economy”,’ Africa Report, Nov 13, 2020.
de Waal, Alex. ‘Why Trump Wants Sudan to Befriend Israel,’ BBC, Oct 8, 2020,
de Waal, Alex. “Don’t shoot us, dad”, Times Literary Supplement, May 7, 2019
de Waal, Alex. “What’s next for Sudan’s Revolution?“, Foreign Affairs, April 23, 2019
de Waal, Alex. “Sudan After Bashir,“, London Review of Books, April 18, 2019
de Waal, Alex. “Omar al-Bashir: How Sudan’s military strongmen stayed in power“, BBC, April 12, 2019
de Waal, Alex. “What next for Sudan and its ‘master manipulator’ Omar al-Bashir?” BBC, April 11, 2019
de Waal, Alex. “In Sudan, Omar al-Bashir Is Out and the Army Takes Over”, New York Times, April 11, 2019
de Waal, Alex. “Mohammed bin Salman should be prosecuted over the Yemen conflict”, The Guardian, December 4, 2018
de Waal, Alex. “What Happens if Mass Starvation Takes Hold in Yemen?” The New York Times, June 14, 2018.
de Waal, Alex. Beyond the Red Sea: A new driving force in the politics of the Horn. African Arguments, June 11, 2018.
de Waal, Alex. “We must never forget to remember”. Irish Times, May 8, 2018.
de Waal, Alex. “Social Nutrition and Prohibiting Famine.” World Nutrition, Vol 9 No 1. April 19, 2018
de Waal, Alex. How can famines be ended? New Internationalist, April 1, 2018.
de Waal, Alex. “Politics of starvation: The decline in humanitarian effectiveness“, Review of Famine in Somalia: Competing imperatives, collective failures, by Dan Maxwell Nisar Majid, January 30, 2018.
de Waal, Alex. “The end of famine? Prospects for the elimination of mass starvation by political action”, Political Geography Volume 62: Pages 184-195, January 2018
de Waal, Alex. Can Somalia Ever Win Against al-Shabab?, Foreign Policy, October 19, 2017.
de Waal, Alex. “Garrison America and the Threat of Global War,” Boston Review, December 5, 2016
de Waal, Alex. “Making Sense of South Sudan”, African Affairs, November 14, 2016
de Waal, Alex. “The End of Interventionism” Boston Review, October 13, 2016
de Waal, Alex. “Brexit threatens world peace and security”, Boston Review, June 29, 2016
de Waal, Alex., “Writing human rights, and getting it wrong,” Boston Review, May/June 2016
de Waal, Alex. “Designer activism and post-democracy”, Open Democracy/Transformation, May 17, 2016
de Waal, Alex. “Europe’s challenge in the Horn of Africa”, Open Democracy, May 24, 2016
de Waal, Alex. “Is the era of great famines over?”, New York Times, May 9, 2016
de Waal, Alex. “Africa’s $700 billion problem waiting to happen”, Foreign Policy, March 17, 2016
Alex de Waal, ‘Assassinating Terrorists Does Not Work,’ Boston Review, November 24, 2015
de Waal, Alex. “Ending Mass Atrocity and Ending Famine”, The Lancet 386, October 17, 2015, 1528-9
de Waal,Alex. “Sisi Goes to Addis Ababa”. The New York Times, January 26, 2015.
de Waal, Alex. “Playing Many Sides, Sudan’s Bashir Tries Again to End his Isolation”. World Politics Review, March 2, 2015
de Waal, Alex. “Militarizing Global Health.” Boston Review, Nov.11, 2014
de Waal, Alex. When kleptocracy becomes insolvent: Brute causes of the civil war in South Sudan.” African Affairs, 113 (452): 347-369, October 2014
de Waal, Alex, Abdul Mohammed. “Handmaiden to Africa’s Generals.”, The New York Times, August 15, 2014
de Waal, Alex. “Why Obama’s $5 Billion Counterterrorism Fund Will Actually Support Terrorism.” Boston Review, June 11, 2014
de Waal, Alex. “Profile in Practice: Toward Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding through Local Perspectives.” Anthropology News, May 1, 2014
de Waal, Alex. “Violence and Peacemaking in the Political Marketplace.” Accord, Issue 25: 17-20, April 2014
Conley-Zilkic, Bridget and Alex de Waal. “Setting the Agenda for Evidence-based Research on Ending Mass Atrocities.” Journal of Genocide Research, Volume 16 Issue 1: 55-76, February 12, 2014
de Waal, Alex, Chad Hazlett, Christian Davenport and Joshua Kennedy. “The Epidemiology of Lethal Violence in Darfur: Using Micro-data to Explore Complex Patterns of Ongoing Armed Conflict.” Social Science & Medicine. February 10, 2014
de Waal, Alex and Abdul Mohammed. “Breakdown in South Sudan: What Went Wrong — and How to Fix It.” Foreign Affairs, January 1, 2014
de Waal, Alex and Abdul Mohammed. “South Sudan must resolve ethnic conflicts to be a nation at peace.”Washington Post, December 29, 2013
de Waal, Alex.“Playing the Genocide Card.” The New York Times, December18, 2013
de Waal, Alex. “Reinventing the World Peace Foundation,” Fletcher Forum 37.3: 85-94 September 24, 2013
de Waal, Alex, and Bridget Conley-Zilkic, “What Sir William Would Do in Syria,” New York Times, International Herald Tribune September 5, 2013
de Waal, Alex.“Sudan’s Elusive Democratisation: Civic Mobilization, Provincial Rebellion and Chameleon Dictatorships.” Journal of Contemporary African Studies Vol. 31, Issue 2:213-234, 2013
de Waal, Alex and Rachel Ibreck. “Hybrid social movements in Africa.” Journal of Contemporary African Studies. Vol. 31, No.2: 303-324, April 3, 2013
de Waal, Alex and Rachel Ibreck. “Alem Bekagn: The African Union’s accidental human rights memorial.”African Affairs , March 13, 2013
de Waal, Alex. “African roles in the Libyan conflict of 2011.” International Affairs, 89.2: 365-379, March, 2013
de Waal, Alex. “Sizzling South Sudan: Why Oil is not the Whole Story.” Foreign Affairs, February 7, 2013
de Waal, Alex. “Sudan and South Sudan in 2013: Rise or Fall Together.” CNN World, December 20, 2012
de Waal, Alex and Abdul Mohammed.“Putting Mali Together Again.” The New York Times, December 11, 2012
de Waal, Alex.“The Theory and Practice of Meles Zenawi.” African Affairs, December 5, 2012
de Waal, Alex. “Meles Zenawi and Ethiopia’s Grand Experiment.” New York Times, Op-Ed, August 22, 2012
de Waal, Alex. “How to End Mass Atrocities.” International Herald Tribune, March 9, 2012
de Waal Alex, Jens Meierhenrich and Bridget Conley-Zilkic. “How Mass Atrocities End: An Evidence Based Counter Narrative.” Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, Vol. 35:3 (Winter 2011) February 2, 2012
de Waal, Alex. “Getting Somalia Right this time.” The New York Times, February 2, 2012
de Waal, Alex.“The Contest over Peace and Security in Africa.” Open Democracy, February 1, 2012
de Waal, Alex “Remember Alem Bekagn.” London Review of Books, Vol. 34 January 26, 2012: No. 2 16-18
de Waal, Alex. “South Sudan’s Doomsday Machine.” International Herald Tribune, January 24, 2012
de Waal, Alex and Chad Hazlett, Christian Davenport, Joshua Kennedy.“Evidence-based Peacekeeping: Exploring the Epidemiology of Lethal Violence in Darfur.”Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, March, 2010
de Waal, Alex. “HIV/AIDS and the Challenge of Security and Conflict.” 375 The Lancet 22-23, Jan. 2, 2010
de Waal, Alex. “On Famine Crimes and Tragedies,” Perspectives, 372 The Lancet 1538-9, Nov. 1, 2008
de Waal. Alex. “Between Exceptionalism and Revisionism: Children and Global AIDS Policies.” IDS Bulletin, Nov. 2008
de Waal. Alex, Jerker Edstrom & Masuma Mamdani, “Introduction: Children, HIV/AIDS and Development Policy.” IDS Bulletin, Nov. 2008
de Waal. Alex. “The Humanitarian Carnival: A Celebrity Vogue.” World Affairs, Fall 2008
de Waal. Alex. “Darfur and the Failure of the Responsibility to Protect.” International Affairs, Nov, 2007
de Waal. Alex. “No Such Thing as Humanitarian Intervention.” Harvard International Review, Mar. 21, 2007
de Waal. Alex. “The Wars of Sudan.” The Nation , Mar.1, 2007
de Waal. Alex. “Reflections on the Difficulties of Defining Darfur’s Crisis as Genocide,” 20 Harvard Journal of Human Rights: 25-33, 2007
de Waal. Alex. “The Book Was Closed Too Soon On Peace in Dafur.” The Guardian, Sept. 29, 2006
de Waal. Alex. “Darfur’s Fragile Peace.” OpenDemocracy, July 4, 2006
de Waal, Alex. “Evidence For The ‘New Variant Famine’ Hypothesis In Africa,” Justice Africa, (2006).
de Waal. Alex. “Sudan’s Chance,” Prospect, Aug. 28, 2005
de Waal, Alex. “Deep Down in Darfur.” Times Literary Supplement, August 12, 2005
de Waal. Alex. “Counter-Insurgency on the Cheap.” 26 London Review of Books 25, Aug.5, 2004
de Waal. Alex. “How Will HIV/AIDS Transform African Governance?” 202 African Affairs 1-23, Jan. 2003
de Waal. Alex. “What’s New in NEPAD?” 78 International Affairs 463-476, July 2002
de Waal. Alex. “On the Moral Solipsism of Global Ethics Inc.” London Review of Books, Aug. 2001
de Waal. Alex. “U.S. War Crimes in Somalia.” New Left Review, Sept. 1998
de Waal. Alex. “Group Identity, Rationality and the State.” 11 Critical Review, 1997
de Waal. Alex. “Contemporary Warfare In Africa: Changing Context, Changing Strategies.” 27 IDS Bulletin 6-16, 1996
de Waal. Alex. “Ethiopia: Transition to What?” 9 World Policy Journal, Feb. 1992
de Waal. Alex. “Famine Mortality: A case study of Darfur, Sudan, 1984-85.” Population Studies, 1989
de Waal. Alex. “Perceptions of Poverty and Famine.” International Journal of Moral & Political Philosophy, 1987
Interviews & Lectures
de Waal. Alex. “Commemorating Starvation in the 21st Century”, Address given at Quinnipiac University on October 11, 2018
Thompson, Megan. Interview with Alex de Waal, How political and military conflict caused the return of famine, PBS News Hour, March 3, 2018
Morgan, Kendall. Understanding causes of famines of the past may help put an end to them, Elsevier Connect, February 1, 2018
Magid, Pesha. ‘Turkey plays catch-up with militarization in Red Sea’. Al-Monitor, January 23, 2018
Aizenman, Nurith. ‘What Today’s Headlines About Famine Get Wrong’. NPR, January 19, 2018
The world in 2017: how much do you know? – quiz, The Guardian, December 25, 2017
Francis, Okech. Oil Deal May Win Back Sudan Some Influence Over Former Enemy, Bloomberg, December 14, 2017
Can this generation end world hunger? The Real News Network, December 25, 2017
‘Famine as mass atrocity’: in conversation with Alex de Waal, The Guardian, November 22, 2017
‘Africa’s step to be a continent of peace’, The Christian Science Monitor, July 21, 2016
Rae Ellen Bichell, ‘The World Is Not As Hungry As You Might Think’, NPR, October 16, 2015
‘The World Is Not As Hungry As You Might Think’, October 15, 2016, WBGH News
de Waal, Alex. “Lessons for Peacemaking in South Sudan.” Lecture, Juba University, April 14, 2014
“Examining Vicious Cycle Of Ethnic Violence In South Sudan.”, Host Renee Montagne, NPR, January 20, 2014
New Pandemics, Old Politics: Two hundred years of war on disease and it’s alternatives
(Polity, 2021)
The book explores how these scripts were drafted, and their consequences for politics and science in the gap between the outbreak of a new pandemic pathogen and the scientific discovery and application of what is needed for containment and cure. It examines three historic pandemics—cholera in 19th century Europe and India, the 1918-19 influenza pandemic, and late-century HIV/AIDS in Africa and around the world—and the preparedness plans for ‘disease X’ over the last 25 years. The goal is to help explain what is familiar and what is unexpected in the current Covid-19 crisis. The book will make the argument for a critical perspective on the politics of pandemics and in favor of a more democratic and inclusive approach to public health.
Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine
(Polity Press, 2018)
The world almost conquered famine. Until the 1980s, this scourge killed ten million people every decade, but by early 2000s mass starvation had all-but-disappeared. Today, famines are resurgent, driven by war, blockade, hostility to humanitarian principles, and a volatile global economy.
In Mass Starvation, world-renowned expert on humanitarian crisis and response Alex de Waal, provides an authoritative history of modern famines: their causes, dimensions, and why they ended. He analyzes starvation as a crime, and breaks new ground in examining forced starvation as an instrument of genocide and war. Refuting the enduring but erroneous view that attributes famine to overpopulation and natural disaster, he shows how political decision or political failing is an essential element in every famine, while the spread of democracy and human rights, and the ending of wars, were major factors in the near-ending of this devastating phenomenon.
Hard-hitting and deeply informed, Mass Starvation explains why man-made famine and the political decisions that could end it for good must once again become a top priority for the international community.
The Real Politics of the Horn of Africa: Money, War and the Business of Power
(Polity Press 2015)
Alex de Waal’s latest book (Polity Press, September 2015) draws on his thirty-year career in Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia, including experience as a participant in high-level peace talks, to provide a unique and compelling account of how these countries leaders run their governments, conduct their business, fight their wars and, occasionally, make peace. De Waal shows how leaders operate on a business model, securing funds for their political budgets which they use to rent the provisional allegiances of army officers, militia commanders, tribal chiefs and party officials at the going rate. This political marketplace is eroding the institutions of government and reversing statebuilding and it is fueled in large part by oil exports, aid funds and western military assistance for counter-terrorism and peacekeeping.
The Real Politics of the Horn of Africa is a sharp and disturbing book with profound implications for international relations, development and peacemaking in the Horn of Africa and beyond.
with Julie Flint. Darfur: A New History of a Long War
(London: Zed Book, 2nd ed. 2008)
AIDS and Power: Why There is No Political Crisis—Yet
(London: Zed Books, 2006)
Part of a series on burning issues confronting Africa and the world, this book talks about AIDS in Africa – what it means for government and democracy. It argues that approaches to the epidemic are driven by interests and frameworks that fail to engage with African resilience and creativity.
Famine that Kills: Darfur, Sudan
(Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. 1989; revised ed. 2004; U.S. ed. 2005)
Demilitarizing the Mind: African Agendas for Peace and Security
(Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2002)
This book highlights a central, but neglected component of Africa’s complicated and intractable wars: the militarization of governance. Political cultures of militarism stand in the way of enduring peace, democracy, and the development of civil society. Militarism comes in both right-wing and left-wing guises—the latter practiced by former liberation fronts in power across much of Africa which have all betrayed the ideals that enthused their earlier struggles. Seven comparative essays, drawn from the experience of conflict and peacemaking, focus on different aspects of militarism in contemporary Africa and ways of overcoming it.
Famine Crimes: Politics and the Disaster Relief Industry in Africa
(Oxford: James Currey, 1997)
Famine is preventable. The persistence of famine reflects political failings by African governments, western donors and international relief agencies. Can Africa avoid famine? When freedom from famine is a basic right or a political imperative, famine is prevented. Case studies from Ethiopia to Botswana demonstrate African successes – but they are often not acknowledged or repeated. Who is responsible for the failures? African generals and politicians are the prime culprits for creating famines in Sudan, Somalia and Zaire, but western donors abet their authoritarianism, partly through imposing structural adjustment programmes. What is the role of International relief agencies? Despite prodigious expenditure and high public profile, relief agencies often do more harm than good. From Biafra to Rwanda, relief has helped to fuel war and undermine democratic accountability. As the influence and resources of UN agencies and NGOs have grown, the chances for effective local solutions have diminished. What is the way forward? Humanitarian intervention and other high-profile relief operations have failed. Progress lies in bringing the fight against famine into democratic politics, and calling to account those guilty of creating famine.
“Concluding Reflections: Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement: Theories of Change”. In Making and Breaking Peace in Sudan and South Sudan: The Comprehensive Peace Agreement and Beyond, edited by Sarah M. H. Nouwen, Laura M. James, and Sharath Srinivasan, Oxford University Press (February 2021)
de Waal, Alex. “The Horn of Africa and the Yemen Crisis”. In Global, Regional, and Local Dynamics in the Yemen Crisis, Stephen W. Day and Noel Brehony eds., Palgrave MacMillan, 2020
de Waal, Alex. “Sudan.” In Comparing Peace Processes, edited by Alpaslan Özerdem and Roger Mac Ginty, Routledge, April 2019.
de Waal, Alex. “Wars in Africa.” Global Insecurity, Mary Kaldor ed., Continuum 2000
[Expand Non-peer reviewed Book Chapters]
de Waal, Alex and Naomi Pendle. “Decentralisation and the Logic of the Political Marketplace in South”, The Struggle for South Sudan:Challenges of Security and State Formation, Edited by Luka Biong Deng Kuol and Sarah Logan, 172-194. London: I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd. 2019
de Waal, Alex. “A Human Security Strategy for the European Union in the Horn of Africa and Red Sea,”: Kaldor, Mary, Iavor Rangelov, and Sabine Selchow, EU Global Strategy and Human Security: Rethinking Approaches to Conflict. London, Routledge. 2018
de Waal, Alex. “Famine and Epidemic Disease,” for the edited volume: African Muckracking: 75 Years of Investigative Journalism in Africa,. Lugalambi, George W. and Anya Schiffrin, eds, Jacana Media.2018
de Waal, Alex. ‘Somalia’s disassembled state: clan unit formation and the political marketplace,’ Conflict, Security & Development, 20:5, 2020, 561-585
Conley, Bridget and Alex de Waal. “The Purposes of Starvation: Historical and Contemporary Uses” Journal of International Criminal Justice, Volume 17, Issue 4, September 2019, Pages 699–722, https://doi.org/10.1093/jicj/mqz054
de Waal, Alex, “Prospects for Democracy in Sudan” series:
de Waal, Alex. “Pax Africana or Middle East Security Alliance in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea?” January 2019
de Waal, Alex. “The Prarie Fire that Burned Mogadishu: The Logic of Clan Formation in Somalia” December, 2018
de Waal, Alex. “Commemorating Starvation in the 21st Century” from an address given at Quinnipiac University October 11, 2018,
de Waal, Alex. “The Emerging Global Order, Multilateralism and Africa” background paper for African Union Annual Mediators’ Retreat, Alex de Waal, October 2017
de Waal, Alex. “South Sudan 2017: A Political Marketplace Analysis,” WPF: February 5, 2017
de Waal, Alex and Mulugeta Gebrehiwot.“African Politics, African Peace”, Report by the WPF to the African Union, 2016 (with a preface by Thabo Mbeki and Lakhdar Brahimi)
“African Union High-Level Panel on Darfur, Darfur: The Quest for Peace, Justice and Reconciliation,” (October 2009). Dr. Alex de Waal, principal author on the drafting team.
de Waal. Alex. “Sudan: What Kind of State, What Kind of Crisis?” LSE Crisis States Research Centre, Occasional Paper No. 2 Apr. 2007
de Waal. Alex. “Sudan: International Dimensions to the State and Its Crisis.” LSE Crisis States Research Centre, Occasional Paper No. 3 Apr. 2007
“Sudan: Denying the Honor of Living,” Africa Watch (1989). Dr. Alex de Waal, principal investigator.
Viewpoint: Why Ethiopia and Sudan have fallen out over al-Fashaga,’ BBC, Jan 3, 2020.
‘Viewpoint: How Ethiopia is Undermining the African Union,’ BBC, Nov 29, 2020.
‘As Ethiopia’s army declares daily victories, its people are being plunged into violence,’ The Guardian, Nov 24, 2020
“Violence in Ethiopia Doesn’t Stay There,’ Foreign Policy, Nov 19, 2020
de Waal, Alex. ‘Tigray Crisis Viewpoint: Why Ethiopia is spiralling out of control,’ BBC, Nov 15, 2020,
de Waal, Alex. ‘The Red Sea: “A vital artery for the world economy”,’ Africa Report, Nov 13, 2020.
de Waal, Alex. ‘Why Trump Wants Sudan to Befriend Israel,’ BBC, Oct 8, 2020,
de Waal, Alex. “Don’t shoot us, dad”, Times Literary Supplement, May 7, 2019
de Waal, Alex. “What’s next for Sudan’s Revolution?“, Foreign Affairs, April 23, 2019
de Waal, Alex. “Sudan After Bashir,“, London Review of Books, April 18, 2019
de Waal, Alex. “Omar al-Bashir: How Sudan’s military strongmen stayed in power“, BBC, April 12, 2019
de Waal, Alex. “What next for Sudan and its ‘master manipulator’ Omar al-Bashir?” BBC, April 11, 2019
de Waal, Alex. “In Sudan, Omar al-Bashir Is Out and the Army Takes Over”, New York Times, April 11, 2019
de Waal, Alex. “Mohammed bin Salman should be prosecuted over the Yemen conflict”, The Guardian, December 4, 2018
de Waal, Alex. “What Happens if Mass Starvation Takes Hold in Yemen?” The New York Times, June 14, 2018.
de Waal, Alex. Beyond the Red Sea: A new driving force in the politics of the Horn. African Arguments, June 11, 2018.
de Waal, Alex. “We must never forget to remember”. Irish Times, May 8, 2018.
de Waal, Alex. “Social Nutrition and Prohibiting Famine.” World Nutrition, Vol 9 No 1. April 19, 2018
de Waal, Alex. How can famines be ended? New Internationalist, April 1, 2018.
de Waal, Alex. “Politics of starvation: The decline in humanitarian effectiveness“, Review of Famine in Somalia: Competing imperatives, collective failures, by Dan Maxwell Nisar Majid, January 30, 2018.
de Waal, Alex. “The end of famine? Prospects for the elimination of mass starvation by political action”, Political Geography Volume 62: Pages 184-195, January 2018
de Waal, Alex. Can Somalia Ever Win Against al-Shabab?, Foreign Policy, October 19, 2017.
de Waal, Alex. “Garrison America and the Threat of Global War,” Boston Review, December 5, 2016
de Waal, Alex. “Making Sense of South Sudan”, African Affairs, November 14, 2016
de Waal, Alex. “The End of Interventionism” Boston Review, October 13, 2016
de Waal, Alex. “Brexit threatens world peace and security”, Boston Review, June 29, 2016
de Waal, Alex., “Writing human rights, and getting it wrong,” Boston Review, May/June 2016
de Waal, Alex. “Designer activism and post-democracy”, Open Democracy/Transformation, May 17, 2016
de Waal, Alex. “Europe’s challenge in the Horn of Africa”, Open Democracy, May 24, 2016
de Waal, Alex. “Is the era of great famines over?”, New York Times, May 9, 2016
de Waal, Alex. “Africa’s $700 billion problem waiting to happen”, Foreign Policy, March 17, 2016
Alex de Waal, ‘Assassinating Terrorists Does Not Work,’ Boston Review, November 24, 2015
de Waal, Alex. “Ending Mass Atrocity and Ending Famine”, The Lancet 386, October 17, 2015, 1528-9
de Waal,Alex. “Sisi Goes to Addis Ababa”. The New York Times, January 26, 2015.
de Waal, Alex. “Playing Many Sides, Sudan’s Bashir Tries Again to End his Isolation”. World Politics Review, March 2, 2015
de Waal, Alex. “Militarizing Global Health.” Boston Review, Nov.11, 2014
de Waal, Alex. When kleptocracy becomes insolvent: Brute causes of the civil war in South Sudan.” African Affairs, 113 (452): 347-369, October 2014
de Waal, Alex, Abdul Mohammed. “Handmaiden to Africa’s Generals.”, The New York Times, August 15, 2014
de Waal, Alex. “Why Obama’s $5 Billion Counterterrorism Fund Will Actually Support Terrorism.” Boston Review, June 11, 2014
de Waal, Alex. “Profile in Practice: Toward Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding through Local Perspectives.” Anthropology News, May 1, 2014
de Waal, Alex. “Violence and Peacemaking in the Political Marketplace.” Accord, Issue 25: 17-20, April 2014
Conley-Zilkic, Bridget and Alex de Waal. “Setting the Agenda for Evidence-based Research on Ending Mass Atrocities.” Journal of Genocide Research, Volume 16 Issue 1: 55-76, February 12, 2014
de Waal, Alex, Chad Hazlett, Christian Davenport and Joshua Kennedy. “The Epidemiology of Lethal Violence in Darfur: Using Micro-data to Explore Complex Patterns of Ongoing Armed Conflict.” Social Science & Medicine. February 10, 2014
de Waal, Alex and Abdul Mohammed. “Breakdown in South Sudan: What Went Wrong — and How to Fix It.” Foreign Affairs, January 1, 2014
de Waal, Alex and Abdul Mohammed. “South Sudan must resolve ethnic conflicts to be a nation at peace.”Washington Post, December 29, 2013
de Waal, Alex.“Playing the Genocide Card.” The New York Times, December18, 2013
de Waal, Alex. “Reinventing the World Peace Foundation,” Fletcher Forum 37.3: 85-94 September 24, 2013
de Waal, Alex, and Bridget Conley-Zilkic, “What Sir William Would Do in Syria,” New York Times, International Herald Tribune September 5, 2013
de Waal, Alex.“Sudan’s Elusive Democratisation: Civic Mobilization, Provincial Rebellion and Chameleon Dictatorships.” Journal of Contemporary African Studies Vol. 31, Issue 2:213-234, 2013
de Waal, Alex and Rachel Ibreck. “Hybrid social movements in Africa.” Journal of Contemporary African Studies. Vol. 31, No.2: 303-324, April 3, 2013
de Waal, Alex and Rachel Ibreck. “Alem Bekagn: The African Union’s accidental human rights memorial.”African Affairs , March 13, 2013
de Waal, Alex. “African roles in the Libyan conflict of 2011.” International Affairs, 89.2: 365-379, March, 2013
de Waal, Alex. “Sizzling South Sudan: Why Oil is not the Whole Story.” Foreign Affairs, February 7, 2013
de Waal, Alex. “Sudan and South Sudan in 2013: Rise or Fall Together.” CNN World, December 20, 2012
de Waal, Alex and Abdul Mohammed.“Putting Mali Together Again.” The New York Times, December 11, 2012
de Waal, Alex.“The Theory and Practice of Meles Zenawi.” African Affairs, December 5, 2012
de Waal, Alex. “Meles Zenawi and Ethiopia’s Grand Experiment.” New York Times, Op-Ed, August 22, 2012
de Waal, Alex. “How to End Mass Atrocities.” International Herald Tribune, March 9, 2012
de Waal Alex, Jens Meierhenrich and Bridget Conley-Zilkic. “How Mass Atrocities End: An Evidence Based Counter Narrative.” Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, Vol. 35:3 (Winter 2011) February 2, 2012
de Waal, Alex. “Getting Somalia Right this time.” The New York Times, February 2, 2012
de Waal, Alex.“The Contest over Peace and Security in Africa.” Open Democracy, February 1, 2012
de Waal, Alex “Remember Alem Bekagn.” London Review of Books, Vol. 34 January 26, 2012: No. 2 16-18
de Waal, Alex. “South Sudan’s Doomsday Machine.” International Herald Tribune, January 24, 2012
de Waal, Alex and Chad Hazlett, Christian Davenport, Joshua Kennedy.“Evidence-based Peacekeeping: Exploring the Epidemiology of Lethal Violence in Darfur.”Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, March, 2010
de Waal, Alex. “HIV/AIDS and the Challenge of Security and Conflict.” 375 The Lancet 22-23, Jan. 2, 2010
de Waal, Alex. “On Famine Crimes and Tragedies,” Perspectives, 372 The Lancet 1538-9, Nov. 1, 2008
de Waal. Alex. “Between Exceptionalism and Revisionism: Children and Global AIDS Policies.” IDS Bulletin, Nov. 2008
de Waal. Alex, Jerker Edstrom & Masuma Mamdani, “Introduction: Children, HIV/AIDS and Development Policy.” IDS Bulletin, Nov. 2008
de Waal. Alex. “The Humanitarian Carnival: A Celebrity Vogue.” World Affairs, Fall 2008
de Waal. Alex. “Darfur and the Failure of the Responsibility to Protect.” International Affairs, Nov, 2007
de Waal. Alex. “No Such Thing as Humanitarian Intervention.” Harvard International Review, Mar. 21, 2007
de Waal. Alex. “The Wars of Sudan.” The Nation , Mar.1, 2007
de Waal. Alex. “Reflections on the Difficulties of Defining Darfur’s Crisis as Genocide,” 20 Harvard Journal of Human Rights: 25-33, 2007
de Waal. Alex. “The Book Was Closed Too Soon On Peace in Dafur.” The Guardian, Sept. 29, 2006
de Waal. Alex. “Darfur’s Fragile Peace.” OpenDemocracy, July 4, 2006
de Waal, Alex. “Evidence For The ‘New Variant Famine’ Hypothesis In Africa,” Justice Africa, (2006).
de Waal. Alex. “Sudan’s Chance,” Prospect, Aug. 28, 2005
de Waal, Alex. “Deep Down in Darfur.” Times Literary Supplement, August 12, 2005
de Waal. Alex. “Counter-Insurgency on the Cheap.” 26 London Review of Books 25, Aug.5, 2004
de Waal. Alex. “How Will HIV/AIDS Transform African Governance?” 202 African Affairs 1-23, Jan. 2003
de Waal. Alex. “What’s New in NEPAD?” 78 International Affairs 463-476, July 2002
de Waal. Alex. “On the Moral Solipsism of Global Ethics Inc.” London Review of Books, Aug. 2001
de Waal. Alex. “U.S. War Crimes in Somalia.” New Left Review, Sept. 1998
de Waal. Alex. “Group Identity, Rationality and the State.” 11 Critical Review, 1997
de Waal. Alex. “Contemporary Warfare In Africa: Changing Context, Changing Strategies.” 27 IDS Bulletin 6-16, 1996
de Waal. Alex. “Ethiopia: Transition to What?” 9 World Policy Journal, Feb. 1992
de Waal. Alex. “Famine Mortality: A case study of Darfur, Sudan, 1984-85.” Population Studies, 1989
de Waal. Alex. “Perceptions of Poverty and Famine.” International Journal of Moral & Political Philosophy, 1987
de Waal. Alex. “Commemorating Starvation in the 21st Century”, Address given at Quinnipiac University on October 11, 2018
Thompson, Megan. Interview with Alex de Waal, How political and military conflict caused the return of famine, PBS News Hour, March 3, 2018
Morgan, Kendall. Understanding causes of famines of the past may help put an end to them, Elsevier Connect, February 1, 2018
Magid, Pesha. ‘Turkey plays catch-up with militarization in Red Sea’. Al-Monitor, January 23, 2018
Aizenman, Nurith. ‘What Today’s Headlines About Famine Get Wrong’. NPR, January 19, 2018
The world in 2017: how much do you know? – quiz, The Guardian, December 25, 2017
Francis, Okech. Oil Deal May Win Back Sudan Some Influence Over Former Enemy, Bloomberg, December 14, 2017
Can this generation end world hunger? The Real News Network, December 25, 2017
‘Famine as mass atrocity’: in conversation with Alex de Waal, The Guardian, November 22, 2017
‘Africa’s step to be a continent of peace’, The Christian Science Monitor, July 21, 2016
Rae Ellen Bichell, ‘The World Is Not As Hungry As You Might Think’, NPR, October 16, 2015
‘The World Is Not As Hungry As You Might Think’, October 15, 2016, WBGH News
de Waal, Alex. “Lessons for Peacemaking in South Sudan.” Lecture, Juba University, April 14, 2014
“Examining Vicious Cycle Of Ethnic Violence In South Sudan.”, Host Renee Montagne, NPR, January 20, 2014
Spotlight
Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine (Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2018)
In Mass Starvation, world-renowned expert on humanitarian crisis and response Alex de Waal, provides an authoritative history of modern famines: their causes, dimensions, and why they ended. He analyzes starvation as a crime, and breaks new ground in examining forced starvation as an instrument of genocide and war. Refuting the enduring but erroneous view that attributes famine to overpopulation and natural disaster, he shows how political decision or political failing is an essential element in every famine, while the spread of democracy and human rights, and the ending of wars, were major factors in the near-ending of this devastating phenomenon.