The violence that has ravaged Algeria has often defied explanation. Regularly invoked in debates about political Islam, transitions to democracy, globalization, and the right of humanitarian interference, Algeria's tragedy has been reduced to a clash of stereotypes: Islamists vs. a secular state, terrorists vs. innocent civilians, or generals vs. a defenseless society. The prevalence of such simplistic representations has disabled public opinion inside as well as outside the country and contributed to the intractability of the conflict. This collection of essays offers a radical corrective to Western misconceptions. Rejecting essentialist and determinist approaches, Hugh Roberts explores the outlook and evolution of the various internal forces as they emerged--the Islamists, the Berberists, the factions within the army, and the regime in general--and he looks at external interests and actors. He explains their strategies and the manoeuvres in which they have engaged. The resulting analyses illuminate the startling dynamics of the conflict and the real issues at stake, and identify the implications of each development in the action. Informed by a deep knowledge of Algeria and Algerian history, these accessible essays guide the reader through the extraordinary politics of the drama in all its complexity.
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"I found The Battlefield deeply knowledgeable, clearly written and always thought provoking. Of many writers on Algerian contemporary affairs I particularly value Hugh Roberts' unremitting effort to site Algerian problems in an Algerian context, thus avoiding the stereotypes and incorrect analogies that so clutter much writing on the subject ... an excellent and deeply rewarding book for anyone who wants to try to penetrate the often obscure politics of this troubled and important country." - Ronald E. Neumann, US Ambassador to Bahrain, Ambassador to Algeria 1994-1997 "...provocative, profoundly committed and impeccably documented, [The Battlefield] enlightens the obscurity of Algerian politics and questions the conventional wisdom of intellectuals. It is not only a collection of articles but a book all of its own, worth serious reflection for years to come." - Jean Leca, Professor at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques, former Chair of the Editorial Board of Monde Arabe, 'Maghreb Machrek' "No other European scholar has followed the twists and turns of Algerian politics with such tenacity, sympathy and understanding." - Roger Owen, A.J. Meyer Professor of Middle East History at Harvard
About the Author
Hugh Roberts is the Director of the Algeria Project and Senior Analyst for Egypt and North Africa with the International Crisis Group. He is a Visiting Fellow of the London School of Economics and Political Science, Visiting Research Scholar at the America University in Cairo, Vice-President of the Society for Algerian Studies and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of North African Studies. He lives in London and Cairo.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Mark Stokle
Format:Hardcover
There aren't many good books out there in English about the 1990s Algerian civil war, and unfortunately this isn't one of them.
Roberts may be an 'expert' on Algeria, but throughout most of his book he never really questions the official historical line touted by the military junta in Algiers. The book fails to put forward any convincing explanation for the deaths of over 200,000 people in the civil war. This is especially surprising given the numerous first-hand accounts that have recently appeared concerning atrocities committed by the Algerian security services. Mr. Mohamed Samraoui, a former deputy-director of the secret services, has published a book ("Chronique des annees de sang") in which he accuses the Algerian generals of having planned the government's overthrow in the 1992 coup before instigating a counter-revolutionary war against the country's civilian population.
Other testimonies from police and military defectors have confirmed Mr. Samraoui's accusations. Mr. Habib Souaidia, a former lieutenant in the special forces, published "La Sale Guerre" in which he denounces the corruption of the military establishment and provides documentary evidence of its implication in civilian massacres. Mr. Abdelkader Tigha, a former sergeant in an "anti-terrorist" police unit, published "Contre-Espionage Algerien" which exposes similar behaviour on the part of the police and gendarmerie leadership. Nesroulah Yous, a survivor of the 1997 Benthala massacre, has written an account of his experience accusing the Algerian military of having deliberately orchestrated the massacre.
Unfortunately, most of these books are in French and not (yet) available in English translation. However, Mr. Roberts - who is a francophile - has inexplicably chosen to ignore these sources, and in some cases (as in that of Mr. Souaida) even to dismiss them as completely unfounded without actually providing one single shred of evidence to disprove them. This is not what one would expect from an author who regards himself as a serious academic.
Roberts also omits crucial details in his work. He fails to provide an accurate description of the military junta, and the most powerful and influential generals (Larbi Belkheir, Khaled Nezzar, Mohamed Lamari, Smain, Zeroual, etc.) are not even given a proper biography. Nothing is said of General Nezzar's cynical role in machine-gunning demonstrators during the 1988 riots, and very little about the interrogation and torture of several thousand people arrested after the event. The network of detention camps set up by the military in the southern provinces of the Sahara desert after the promulgation of martial law receives scarcely a mention. More importantly, the crucial "secret" link between the top brass of the Algerian army and the French government is largely ignored by Roberts. This is astonishing when one considers that several of the top Algerian officers in power actually served in the French army for most of the Algerian War of Independence, only defecting to the FLN late in the war. At certain times, the book descends into mere propaganda, as when Roberts claims that the military takeover in 1992 was not a 'coup'.
A further weak point is Robert's treatment of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), the precursors of the modern AQIM. This is especially apparent in the case of the seven French monks that were kidnapped and murdered in the mountain town of Tibherine in 1996. Two years ago the Algerian military formally announced that it had in fact accidentally killed the monks in a botched rescue operation. But Roberts has not updated his book to take this into account; and so the monks are still described as having been murdered by the GIA.
For all the reasons outlined above, I would not recommend this work as a good introduction to the subject matter it attempts to present. What is even more ominous is that the same goes for most of the other English-language books about the Algerian Civil War (including Martinez). At present, if you can not read French then the best I can think of is Jeremy Keenan's "The Dark Sahara".
Roberts may be an 'expert' on Algeria, but throughout most of his book he never really questions the official historical line touted by the military junta in Algiers. The book fails to put forward any convincing explanation for the deaths of over 200,000 people in the civil war. This is especially surprising given the numerous first-hand accounts that have recently appeared concerning atrocities committed by the Algerian security services. Mr. Mohamed Samraoui, a former deputy-director of the secret services, has published a book ("Chronique des annees de sang") in which he accuses the Algerian generals of having planned the government's overthrow in the 1992 coup before instigating a counter-revolutionary war against the country's civilian population.
Other testimonies from police and military defectors have confirmed Mr. Samraoui's accusations. Mr. Habib Souaidia, a former lieutenant in the special forces, published "La Sale Guerre" in which he denounces the corruption of the military establishment and provides documentary evidence of its implication in civilian massacres. Mr. Abdelkader Tigha, a former sergeant in an "anti-terrorist" police unit, published "Contre-Espionage Algerien" which exposes similar behaviour on the part of the police and gendarmerie leadership. Nesroulah Yous, a survivor of the 1997 Benthala massacre, has written an account of his experience accusing the Algerian military of having deliberately orchestrated the massacre.
Unfortunately, most of these books are in French and not (yet) available in English translation. However, Mr. Roberts - who is a francophile - has inexplicably chosen to ignore these sources, and in some cases (as in that of Mr. Souaida) even to dismiss them as completely unfounded without actually providing one single shred of evidence to disprove them. This is not what one would expect from an author who regards himself as a serious academic.
Roberts also omits crucial details in his work. He fails to provide an accurate description of the military junta, and the most powerful and influential generals (Larbi Belkheir, Khaled Nezzar, Mohamed Lamari, Smain, Zeroual, etc.) are not even given a proper biography. Nothing is said of General Nezzar's cynical role in machine-gunning demonstrators during the 1988 riots, and very little about the interrogation and torture of several thousand people arrested after the event. The network of detention camps set up by the military in the southern provinces of the Sahara desert after the promulgation of martial law receives scarcely a mention. More importantly, the crucial "secret" link between the top brass of the Algerian army and the French government is largely ignored by Roberts. This is astonishing when one considers that several of the top Algerian officers in power actually served in the French army for most of the Algerian War of Independence, only defecting to the FLN late in the war. At certain times, the book descends into mere propaganda, as when Roberts claims that the military takeover in 1992 was not a 'coup'.
A further weak point is Robert's treatment of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), the precursors of the modern AQIM. This is especially apparent in the case of the seven French monks that were kidnapped and murdered in the mountain town of Tibherine in 1996. Two years ago the Algerian military formally announced that it had in fact accidentally killed the monks in a botched rescue operation. But Roberts has not updated his book to take this into account; and so the monks are still described as having been murdered by the GIA.
For all the reasons outlined above, I would not recommend this work as a good introduction to the subject matter it attempts to present. What is even more ominous is that the same goes for most of the other English-language books about the Algerian Civil War (including Martinez). At present, if you can not read French then the best I can think of is Jeremy Keenan's "The Dark Sahara".
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2.5 out of 5 stars
6 reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A work of considerable scholarship
8 April 2003
By Midwest Book Review
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
The Battlefield: Algeria 1988-2002 by Hugh Roberts (Senior Research Fellow of the Development Studies Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science) is a close and meticulous study of the recent violence that has wracked Algeria. This impressive history eschews oversimplifications reducing the conflict to simply Islamists vs. a secular state, or the generals vs. the common people. Carefully examining the makeup and motivating forces for the Islamists, the Berberists, various factions in the army and in the general regime, The Battlefield is a compelling dissection of the heart of bloodshed. A work of considerable scholarship but one which is easily accessible by the non-specialist general reader, The Battlefield is highly recommended for students of 20th Century Algerian history.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Turning Algeria Inside Out
22 Feb 2003
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Hugh Roberts is the leading anglophone expert on Algeria and this book will cause you to question all of your pre-conceived and half-baked notions of what has been going on in Algeria during the last decade and a half. Roberts is a passionately committed scholar who questions everything and comes up with original and serious critiques of what passes for scholarship and with fascinating reflections that will reward your curiousity and cause you to think deeply about why we understood so little about Algeria.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
A work which takes most of the propaganda from Algiers for granted
22 April 2012
By Mark Stokle
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
There aren't many good books out there in English about the 1990s Algerian civil war, and unfortunately this isn't one of them.
Roberts may be an 'expert' on Algeria, but throughout most of his book he never really questions the official historical line touted by the military junta in Algiers. The book fails to put forward any convincing explanation for the deaths of over 200,000 people in the civil war. This is especially surprising given the numerous first-hand accounts that have recently appeared concerning atrocities committed by the Algerian security services. Mr. Mohamed Samraoui, a former deputy-director of the secret services, has published a book ("Chronique des annees de sang") in which he accuses the Algerian generals of having planned the government's overthrow in the 1992 coup before instigating a counter-revolutionary war against the country's civilian population.
Other testimonies from police and military defectors have confirmed Mr. Samraoui's accusations. Mr. Habib Souaidia, a former lieutenant in the special forces, published "La Sale Guerre" in which he denounces the corruption of the military establishment and provides documentary evidence of its implication in civilian massacres. Mr. Abdelkader Tigha, a former sergeant in an "anti-terrorist" police unit, published "Contre-Espionage Algerien" which exposes similar behaviour on the part of the police and gendarmerie leadership. Nesroulah Yous, a survivor of the 1997 Benthala massacre, has written an account of his experience accusing the Algerian military of having deliberately orchestrated the massacre.
Unfortunately, most of these books are in French and not (yet) available in English translation. However, Mr. Roberts - who is a francophile - has inexplicably chosen to ignore these sources, and in some cases (as in that of Mr. Souaida) even to dismiss them as completely unfounded without actually providing one single shred of evidence to disprove them. This is not what one would expect from an author who regards himself as a serious academic.
Roberts also omits crucial details in his work. He fails to provide an accurate description of the military junta, and the most powerful and influential generals (Larbi Belkheir, Khaled Nezzar, Mohamed Lamari, Smain, Zeroual, etc.) are not even given a proper biography. Nothing is said of General Nezzar's cynical role in machine-gunning demonstrators during the 1988 riots, and very little about the interrogation and torture of several thousand people arrested after the event. The network of detention camps set up by the military in the southern provinces of the Sahara desert after the promulgation of martial law receives scarcely a mention. More importantly, the crucial "secret" link between the top brass of the Algerian army and the French government is largely ignored by Roberts. This is astonishing when one considers that several of the top Algerian officers in power actually served in the French army for most of the Algerian War of Independence, only defecting to the FLN late in the war. At certain times, the book descends into mere propaganda, as when Roberts claims that the military takeover in 1992 was not a 'coup'.
A further weak point is Robert's treatment of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), the precursors of the modern AQIM. This is especially apparent in the case of the seven French monks that were kidnapped and murdered in the mountain town of Tibherine in 1996. Two years ago the Algerian military formally announced that it had in fact accidentally killed the monks in a botched rescue operation. But Roberts has not updated his book to take this into account; and so the monks are still described as having been murdered by the GIA.
For all the reasons outlined above, I would not recommend this work as a good introduction to the subject matter it attempts to present. What is even more ominous is that the same goes for most of the other English-language books about the Algerian Civil War (including Martinez). At present, if you can not read French then the best I can think of is Jeremy Keenan's "The Dark Sahara".
Roberts may be an 'expert' on Algeria, but throughout most of his book he never really questions the official historical line touted by the military junta in Algiers. The book fails to put forward any convincing explanation for the deaths of over 200,000 people in the civil war. This is especially surprising given the numerous first-hand accounts that have recently appeared concerning atrocities committed by the Algerian security services. Mr. Mohamed Samraoui, a former deputy-director of the secret services, has published a book ("Chronique des annees de sang") in which he accuses the Algerian generals of having planned the government's overthrow in the 1992 coup before instigating a counter-revolutionary war against the country's civilian population.
Other testimonies from police and military defectors have confirmed Mr. Samraoui's accusations. Mr. Habib Souaidia, a former lieutenant in the special forces, published "La Sale Guerre" in which he denounces the corruption of the military establishment and provides documentary evidence of its implication in civilian massacres. Mr. Abdelkader Tigha, a former sergeant in an "anti-terrorist" police unit, published "Contre-Espionage Algerien" which exposes similar behaviour on the part of the police and gendarmerie leadership. Nesroulah Yous, a survivor of the 1997 Benthala massacre, has written an account of his experience accusing the Algerian military of having deliberately orchestrated the massacre.
Unfortunately, most of these books are in French and not (yet) available in English translation. However, Mr. Roberts - who is a francophile - has inexplicably chosen to ignore these sources, and in some cases (as in that of Mr. Souaida) even to dismiss them as completely unfounded without actually providing one single shred of evidence to disprove them. This is not what one would expect from an author who regards himself as a serious academic.
Roberts also omits crucial details in his work. He fails to provide an accurate description of the military junta, and the most powerful and influential generals (Larbi Belkheir, Khaled Nezzar, Mohamed Lamari, Smain, Zeroual, etc.) are not even given a proper biography. Nothing is said of General Nezzar's cynical role in machine-gunning demonstrators during the 1988 riots, and very little about the interrogation and torture of several thousand people arrested after the event. The network of detention camps set up by the military in the southern provinces of the Sahara desert after the promulgation of martial law receives scarcely a mention. More importantly, the crucial "secret" link between the top brass of the Algerian army and the French government is largely ignored by Roberts. This is astonishing when one considers that several of the top Algerian officers in power actually served in the French army for most of the Algerian War of Independence, only defecting to the FLN late in the war. At certain times, the book descends into mere propaganda, as when Roberts claims that the military takeover in 1992 was not a 'coup'.
A further weak point is Robert's treatment of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), the precursors of the modern AQIM. This is especially apparent in the case of the seven French monks that were kidnapped and murdered in the mountain town of Tibherine in 1996. Two years ago the Algerian military formally announced that it had in fact accidentally killed the monks in a botched rescue operation. But Roberts has not updated his book to take this into account; and so the monks are still described as having been murdered by the GIA.
For all the reasons outlined above, I would not recommend this work as a good introduction to the subject matter it attempts to present. What is even more ominous is that the same goes for most of the other English-language books about the Algerian Civil War (including Martinez). At present, if you can not read French then the best I can think of is Jeremy Keenan's "The Dark Sahara".
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