African Governance, Security, and Development

African Governance, Security, and Development is a comprehensive and thoughtful collection of timely essays written to reveal enduring patterns in African political and socio-economic life. The text goes beyond an explanation of challenges of democratic reforms, consolidation, security, gender inequalities, and unfinished development policy agendas in Africa and explores the complex interactions of these variables as they manifest in different African countries. The volume elegantly interweaves several themes in the development discourse in a way that is useful to students and practitioners of African governance.

-- Eric E. Otenyo, Northern Arizona University

Following the democratic wave that swept across Africa in the 1990s, few studies have dedicated their analysis to understanding whether the resulting political transition has proved sustainable. This excellent volume fills this lacuna. By drawing from experiences of several African countries, contributors to the volume masterfully complicate our understanding of democratic transition in Africa, depicting it as a variable against which progress can be understood or measured. They succeed at arguing that outcomes of democratic practice or political transition in Africa have varied from state to state. This variation marks the book’s value, as it offers the contributors an opportunity to determine outcomes of political change on the continent by focusing on various germane topics. These range from constitutional practice, identity, development, ethnicity, education, parliamentarism, imagination, new oil economies, security, and regional integration. This timely book is critical to researchers and students of African studies seeking to understand political, social, and economic trends in modern Africa against the backdrop of state and regional politics.

-- Martin S. Shanguhyia, Syracuse University

An edifying interdisciplinary inquiry into social, ideological, and political micro-national, macro-national and global identities and institutions and the theory and practice of democracies.

-- Besi Muhonja, James Madison University

This book captures African politics in its complexity and diversity. It is a “one-stop-shop,” and a valuable resource for students, academics, and practitioners who wish to navigate Africa’s contemporary political, economic, socio-cultural, and security landscape. It is a must-read!

-- Augustine E. Ayuk, Clayton State Univer