The best single book on this subject to date, Coker's study avoids well-worn arguments about the real degree of East-West competition in Africa and instead weaves together good analyses of several issues which are central for the respective sides: the extent of NATO cooperation with Portugal and South Africa; East European concern about access to southern Africa's minerals; the GDR's role in southern African security systems; the potential for concerted NATO alliance activity in Africa. Throughout, he explains why in almost every instance African governments continue to see Western intervention as a far greater threat than that of the Eastern bloc.
