This special issue was in the works for several years. It took much longer than usual because a significant number of the manuscripts initially submitted for the issue did not make it through the peer review process. We eventually narrowed the issue down to the core group of articles that are published here. In earlier issues of the journal, we published articles discussing the roles of Cuba and the Soviet Union in the wars in southern Africa. The articles published here should be read in conjunction with those earlier articles.
The articles in this issue look both at the perspectives of local actors in Africa (Angola, Mozambique, South Africa) and at the roles of certain external actors—Portugal, the United States, Yugoslavia, and the World Council of Churches—in the process of decolonization and guerrilla warfare. Even after Portugal ended its presence in southern Africa and gave way to the independent states...