Autonomy and Intifadah: New Horizons in Western Saharan Nationalism

June 2006

The Western Sahara conflict entered its thirtieth year last November. Celebrated by Moroccans and lamented by Sahrawi nationalists, the anniversary went largely unnoticed by the international community. Though it has been on the Security Council’s agenda since 1988, Western Sahara has defied resolution by three successive Secretaries General and Kofi Annan’s former personal envoy, former US Secretary of State James Baker. It is likely that a fourth Secretary General will take over management of the conflict next year.

in Review of African Political Economy Vol.33 No.108 (June 2006), pp255-267.



A Battlefield Transformed: From Guerilla Resistance to Mass Nonviolent Struggle in the Western Sahara

March 2006

Coauthored with Maria Stephan, Journal of Military and Strategic Studies 8/3 (Spring 2006): 1-32. Winner of the Society for Military and Strategic Studies 2006 Journal of Military and Strategic Studies Award of Excellence.



How the US and Morocco seized the Spanish Sahara

January 2006

Last November marked the 30th anniversary of the Sahara crisis, triggered when Morocco successfully pressured Madrid out of its desert colony in autumn 1975. Despite the United States’ denials, declassified records reveal that King Hassan’s success was made possible through US intervention.



Book review: ‘Western Sahara: Anatomy of a Stalemate’ by Erik Jensen

December 2005

in Review of African Political Economy 106 (December 2005): 662-664.



Book review: ‘Endgame in the Western Sahara’ by Toby Shelley

June 2005

in Journal of North African Studies 10/2 (June 2005): 238-240.



Stubborn Stalemate in Western Sahara

June 2004

in Middle East Report Online (26 June 2004), http://www.merip.org/mero/mero062604.html.

Reprinted as ‘Die Uno Scheitert in der Wüste,’ Woz Die Wochenzeitung (Le Monde Diplomatique, Germany) 27 (1 July 2004): 11.



“Seized of the Matter”: The UN and the Western Sahara Dispute

June 2004

Since 1988, the United Nations has been actively involved in the Western Sahara dispute between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Western Saharan liberation movement known as the Frente POLISARIO. Over fifteen years later, there seems to be no end in sight for this seemingly intractable conflict. For the UN, the Western Sahara file is beginning to look less like East Timor and a lot more like Cyprus.

in Mediterranean Quarterly 15.3 (2004), pp.130-148.