A concise study examining the various trends and structural factors in the contemnporary political economy of West Africa, assessing how they will affect the needs and capabilities of the sub-region's countries to achieve a more rapid system of democratic government and respond to the demands of globalisation. It provides an overview of the area's development issues, including the prospects for regional co-operation/integration, the important geo-political and economic role played by France in West Africa, changing forms of popular identity, and Islam and its growing influence. It argues that...

As the twenty first century unfolds, African universities are undergoing change and confronting challenges which are unprecedented. The effects of globalisation, and political and economic pressures of liberalisation and privatisation, both internal and external, are reconfiguring all aspects of university life: teaching, research, and their public service functions; such that the need to redefine the roles of the African universities, and to defend their importance have become paramount. At the same time, the universities must themselves balance demands of autonomy and accountability,...

The West African sub-region has a distinctive history as one of the most dynamic parts of the African continent. Forged out of a long, often contradictory, always contested trajectory of state formation, dissolution, and recomposition that has been accompanied at different stages by widespread population movements, the sub-region has, inevitably, grappled with a wide range of core, enduring governance questions. These questions have contributed, to one degree or another, to the making and character ofcontemporary state systems, as well as the political cultures underpinning them. It is hoped...