In  the first edition, there will be four main articles:

Célestin Monga advances a theory of democratic consolidation in Africa, arguing that democratisation is a process, the consolidation of which depends on such important variables as legitimacy, just settlement of grievances, solidarity, compassion, expansion of the political space, and neutrality of the armed forces.

 Karim Dahou explains that new forms of civil society, distinct from the European model, are emerging in the sub-region following the IMF-induced retreat of the state from social and economic processes in the mid 1980s. It remains to be seen, however, whether these new modes of social organisation will so fundamentally challenge the status quo as to throw up a novel form of the state in Africa.

 Morten Bøås is concerned to offer a political reading of the civil war in Sierra Leone, suggesting that the politics of the spoils system is at the heart of a conflict in which an entire generation was lost to a lifestyle of war.

 Ukoha Ukiwo seeks to contribute empirical evidence to civil society theory by focussing on the phenomenon of ‘Bakassi Boys’, a vigilante group that emerged among commercial leather workers in urban south-eastern Nigeria in the late 1990s to contain crime where official law enforcement agents had palpably failed.

Briefings

return to top^

 In the briefings section are discussed such important issues as the security implications of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and political life in war-ravaged Angola after Jonas Savimbi. There is also a celebration of the work and life of the distinguished Nigerian political economist, Bade Onimode, who died earlier in the year.