To speak of international co-operation and development is to speak of the past no less than the present – and of the future also. Indeed, a thin line divides evaluation of the past from analysis of the present, and both from prospects for the future. Let me start with the element of continuum.

The Limits To Political Independence

It is in man's nature that each generation in turn reflects and inaugurates change. But the character and pace of change are never constant, and there are times when human needs demand that it proceed with unusual urgency. It is in such a time that we live; indeed, already, none of us live any longer in the kind of world into which we were born. Nor any university for that matter. And the rhythm of change is actually gaining momentum.

The ability of technological advancement to diversify the means of political control available to the state is a distinctive feature of modern life. Today, with the exception of the most underdeveloped and brutal régimes, the overt use of state force is complemented by a variety of control techniques, some so oblique as to defy detection even by the groups they are designed to regulate or repress. South Africa's stalled revolution, the subject of considerable concern to many analysts, is clearly not attributable to black acceptance of the present system, nor for that matter is it simply the result of the effectiveness with which the white minority has applied the more blatantly violent and directly coercive means of domination.1

During the last few inflation-ridden years many countries have experienced a severe crisis of industrial relations as workers tried, through collective action, to preserve their living standards against the pressure of rising prices. But Tanzania stands as a conspicuous example of one country where, during the 1970s, strikes seem virtually to have disappeared, as may be seen from Table I.1 It is true that the Tanzanian definition of a strike excludes disputes lasting less than one day; and it is also true that there have been occasions since 1972 when workers have ‘downed tools’ for brief protest periods. But the lack of reported strikes in Tanzania is not a statistical illusion. The Labour Officers of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare keep a close watch on the state of industrial relations, and these occurrences are known to and are reported by them, as is shown by their recording of three strikes in 1977. This last fact also demonstrates that strikes can still occur in Tanzania.

For two decades African countries have experienced rising Soviet interest and involvement in their internal affairs. Recent events in Angola, Uganda, and Ethiopia have particularly alarmed many observers. Today the debate continues in the news media and in academic circles as to the nature of Soviet behaviour. Regrettably, as much misinformation as fact seems to confound the issue.

This article compares the relative size and industrial distribution of artisanal manufacturing and service enterprises in Yaoundé and Accra, the capital cities of Cameroun and Ghana. The primary purpose is to provide evidence on the hypothesis that the characteristics of small-scale production are closely related to the level of development and industrialisation, and therefore likely to be similar in countries at similar levels elsewhere. The comparison is also used to highlight some operational problems of defining, measuring, and assisting ‘artisanal’ or ‘smallscale’ activities.

There has been a fairly standard flirtation in Africa between new states and an apparently attractive type of local government. District councils have usually been hastily instituted during the last stages of colonial rule; important functions are transferred to them after independence, and there is great faith in their ability to act as autonomous links between the centre and the periphery. This initial period of optimism, however, quickly dissipates and is replaced by growing disappointment with the ability of the councils to handle various problems. A recentralisation of authority in the capital city then becomes almost inevitable.1

The article by Michael F. Lofchie on ‘Agrarian Crisis and Economic Liberalisation in Tanzania’, published in this Journal, Vol. XVI, No. 3, September 1978, pp. 451–75, has already aroused considerable comment and raises a number of points of substantial general interest. It is, however, to my mind, somewhat misleading in several respects. Few, I think, would now dissent from the very general proposition that agricultural policies in the period up to 1974–5 contributed both to a generally slow rate of growth of production and to the major shortfall in output of that year, and that this in turn contributed to changes in policy since then.

This short article is based on the rather unusual research methodology of enforced participant observation. The participatory element was not simply a device to facilitate observation, but was enforced by the need to get petrol.1 The analysis presented here of Nigerian petrol queues has obvious parallels with earlier works by such writers as Max Gluckman and J. Clyde Mitchell.2 There are, however, some important differences, in terms of both the type of ‘situation’ analysed and the scope of the projections thereafter.3