The Review of African Political Economy - examining the politics of imperialism;
development; agrarian, popular and democratic struggles; class, gender and social justice

Who are we?

Since 1974, ROAPE has provided radical analysis of trends, issues and social processes in Africa. It pays particular attention to the political economy of inequality, exploitation and oppression, whether driven by global forces or local ones such as class, race, ethnicity and gender), and to broadly materialist interpretations of change. It sustains a critical analysis of the nature of power and the state in Africa in the context of capitalist globalisation. READ MORE

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Editorial: Against One-dimensional Africa by Graham Harrison and Reginald Cline-Cole

Not only does a vacuous neo-liberal universalism persist but even the slender counter-hegenomies which survive are usually derived from outside Africa. There is a need for recognition that both the potential and the tragedy of African political economy are played out in multiple settings through variegated social and political institutions, both formal and informal. As the intellectual history of ROAPE... READ MORE

Current Issue - Vol. 36, No. 122, December 2009

 SEE CONTENTS PAGE

Article: Chinese investments in Africa by Peter Kragelund

The current strong foothold of Chinese enterprises on the African continent concerns many western observers. They fear that the West will lose leverage in Africa and simultaneously postpone development. Paradoxically, the advance of Chinese enterprises in Africa is not only the result of deliberate Chinese policies to gain access to resources and markets, but also the consequence of liberal African... READ MORE

Article: Radical experiments in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Uganda in the 1980s by J. Tyler Dickovick

This paper compares three African countries whose attempts to transform local governance in the 1980s were among the most dramatic, particularly in rural areas: Burkina Faso under Thomas Sankara (1983–1987), Ghana in the early years of the Jerry Rawlings presidency (1981–1992), and Uganda under Yoweri Museveni (1985–present). Despite surface similarities, especially in the establishment of local ‘people’s defence councils’ or... READ MORE

Article: The Political Economy of Youth Restiveness in the Niger Delta by Jeremiah O. Arowosegbe

One element in the contradictions underpinning Nigeria’s development crisis is the marginalisation of youth. This article examines the factors that influence youth restiveness in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region. It discusses the impact of conservative elite politics and the oil-centric political economy characterised by the impoverishment, neglect and the repression of the oil-producing communities on the youth in the region. The... READ MORE

Also in this issue:

• – "Do we understand the Linkages between Economic Growth, Poverty Targets & Poverty Reduction?" by Thorkil Casse and Stig Jensen MORE
• – "Questioning Pro-poor Responses to the Global Economic Slump" by Peter jacobs MORE

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Available Printed

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Full Text Documents

These are either full-text reprints of pieces from the journal, additional notes, or new e-briefings published exclusively here. Materials here may appear later in the journal, or may be short-lived or urgent material incompatible with the turnaround time of printing.

Reproduction of "Development in Africa" (Number 1, Spring 1974)

- editorial from the founding issue of the journal in 1974 explains why the journal needed to be formed, and discusses its ideological perspective, and the challenges of imperialism (with particular reference to transnational corporations) to class struggle.... FULL TEXT

Reproduction of "Nigeria: Oil, Debts and Democracy" (Number 37, Winter 1986)

- our issue at the end of 1986 examined the economic crisis in Nigeria following the collapse in OPEC prices. It compared the effects on Nigeria's debts and the worsening political crisis.... FULL TEXT

Reproduction of "Africa in a New World Order" (Number 50, Spring 1991)

- from Spring 1991, this re-assesses the role of the Review following the collapse of "state socialism" in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Discusses crisis and transformation, the new imperialism of a single super-power, and prospects for social development in Africa and the problems of democracy.... FULL TEXT

Reproduction of "Land and Freedom in South Africa" (Number 61, September 1994)

- as a new South Africa began to emerge in 1994, this issued centred on the difficult questions of national land reform which the ANC's Reconstruction and Development Programme identified as 'the central and driving force of a programme of rural development'.... FULL TEXT

Reproduction of "Imperialism in the Post-Cold War Era" (Number 66, December 1995)

- from 1995, discusses how imperialism continues to redefine itself, as the US 'unipolar world' (following the demise of 'state socialism' in the Soviet Union) gives way to a 'tripolar world' as the decline in US economic power is increasingly challenged by that of Japan and Germany, leading to a divide between military and economic power which has potential dangers for other nations that they may be inadvertently drawn into other people's conflicts.... FULL TEXT

Maghreb Online: Internet materials on North Africa

- collection of links to resources on the Maghreb compiled in 2000 by Chris Allen - NOT kept up to date - kept as historical curiosity... FULL TEXT

If you have material which you think should be published on this site or in the journal, see How to contribute.

Copyright © 1974-2009, ROAPE Publications

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