The title of this article betrays its comparative character: an attempt to outline in broad strokes the political experiences of the United States and Africa spanning 1787 and 1966. The first date marks the year of the Philadelphia Convention whose concern, as it developed, was to draw up an entirely new constitutional framework that was ‘adequate to the exigencies of government and the preservation of the Union’, in place of the ‘weak, deficient and inadequate’ Articles of Confederacy.

The investigation of African economies has been dominated by two perspectives. On the one hand, the neo-classical or diffusionist position views third-world nations as essentially repeating the same development path as occurred during the historical experience of the now-industrialised nations. This paradigm indicates that the barriers to the advance of these undeveloped economic systems are essentially internal, and that they include issues such as shortages of labour, limitations in infrastructure, and lack of capital savings. On the other hand, while recognising the constraining influences posed by such factors, the dependency or neo-Marxian perspective argues that the constraints posed by the peripheral position of these economies in a world system is of pre-eminent importance. Such contrasts, although greatly simplified, dominate the explanations of the economic difficulties facing African nations.

The Ivory Coast was lauded as a development ‘success’ for 20 years after independence in 1960. In fact, the 1978 World Bank report on the Ivory Coast was sub-titled ‘the challenge of success’. Six years after the publication of this economic study, the so-called ‘miracle’ looked more like a mirage, so much so that an analyst could write: ‘no African country's creditworthiness has fallen more spectacularly than that of the Ivory Coast’. Domestically, it has been obliged to implement a severe austerity programme, and externally, to request a rescheduling of its debt. From a real growth rate of G.N.P. that had averaged more than 7 per cent a year since 1960, growth fell to 2 per cent in 1981, to zero per cent in 1982, and to −4.3 per cent in 1983.

This is a study of feuding and conciliation, fissioning and fusing, among the constituent segments of Accra's Muslim community. It articulates the argument of legitimacy – to build a new mosque, to choose a new leader, in effect, to direct the group – and in so doing, politically delineates the principle that by excluding rivals it is feasible to gainsay power for one's own group.

The transfer of European farms to Africans began in Kenya a few years before independence in 1963. The main principles of the programmes for land transfer and settlement – the two elements cannot be separated – were laid down at that time and continued thereafter. This article describes their history and main features, sets out the principles on which they were based, and explains the financial arrangements. It then analyses the experience of land transfer and settlement, and suggests lessons that may be drawin form this knowledge.

Since African states began to obtain their political independence almost three decades ago, drought has exacerbated critical problems of social equality. In domestic politics, élites have used their control over food aid to enhance their power vis-à-vis those suffering from declines in agricultural production. Two scholars recently concluded that ‘food-relief programmes…have helped to widen the gap between rich and poor in virtually every country in which they operate’. Internationally, the industrialised states have taken advantage of drought to impose policy directions on affected African states. Often the general public has had to bear the brunt of changes in, for example, the prices of consumer goods and wages.

In recent years, many developing countries have undergone rapid and extensive socio-economic changes which generally have brought with them an increase in criminality. This is a trend which continues to cause grave concern. Indeed, the United Nations General Assembly in Resolution 35/171 of 15 December 1980 noted the significant increase in crime and recognised that this impairs the overall development of nations, undermines people's spiritual and material well-being, compromises human dignity, and creates a climate of fear and violence that erodes the quality of life. The response to criminality therefore becomes of the utmost importance and, indeed, the political and economic stability of any society can be seriously affected if the government is seen as being incapable of dealing with the problem.

Namibia is distinctive in Africa for at least three significant reasons. First of all, it remains the continent's last colony in defiance of world opinion and the United Nations. Secondly, it has experienced Africa's longest armed liberation struggle apart from South Africa, with no end yet in sight. Thirdly, and most importantly, that conflict is not being waged against some distant metropolitan power, but Namibia's dominant and pariah neighbour. Just as this geographical contiguity has facilitated South African attempts to retain control over Namibia, it seems certain to impose severe constraints on the scope for pursuing independent policies once Namibian sovereignty is finally achieved.