Responding to the changes that have swept across North Africa since the first edition of this book was published, Erik Jensen sheds new light on the enduring dispute over Western Sahara.

Jensen reviews the history of the dispute, beginning with its colonial roots, and explains how and why attempts made by the OAU and, more persistently, the UN failed to achieve a formula for resolution acceptable to both Morocco and Western Sahara's Polisario Front. Then bringing the story up to 2011, he describes the new interest in a political compromise.

The conflict remains the single most important obstacle to developing the regional Maghreb Union, which has the potential to change the lot of the region's many unemployed and underemployed. That, Jensen suggests, coupled with such unexpected developments as plans for constitutional reform in Morocco, may offer hope for resolving the stalemate.