Product Description

An Introduction to African Politics provides an ideal gateway for individuals seeking to make sense of the dynamic and diverse political systems that are a feature of this fascinating part of the world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #101228 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Review
'This is an excellent book of great use for students. It represents a significant contribution to the study
of politics in Africa.'
- Jeff Haynes, London Metropolitan University, UK

From the Publisher
New edition in 2004!

From the Back Cover
The second edition of An Introduction to African Politics is an ideal textbook for those new to the study of this fascinating continent. It gets to the heart of the politics of this part of the world. How is modern Africa still influenced by its colonial past? How do strong ethnic identities on the continent effect government? Why has the military been so influential? Why do African states have such difficulty managing their economies? How does African democracy differ from democracy in the West? These are the sort of questions tackled by the book. The result is a textbook that identifies the essential features of African politics, allowing students to grasp the recurring political patterns that have dominated this continent since independence.

Features and benefits include:

* thematically organised, with individual chapters exploring issues such as colonialism, ethnicity, nationalism, religion, social class, ideology, legitimacy, authority, sovereignty and democracy
* identifies key recurrent themes such as the competitive relationships between the African state, its civil society and external interests
* contains useful boxed case studies at the end of each chapter, including: Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Botswana, Côte d'Ivoire, Uganda, Somalia, Ghana, Zaire and Algeria
* each chapter concludes with key terms and definitions as well as questions, advice on further reading and useful notes and references
* includes a guide to African politics internet resources
* clearly and accessibly written by an experienced teacher of the subject.

Students seeking a comprehensive survey to help in their understanding of the complex theories and events that characterise the politics of post-colonial Africa will find this textbook essential reading.

Customer Reviews

Great For Students
This is an extremely belated review of a book I used for my undergraduate degree at a prestigious British university. The review is so belated that the version I used was the previous edition and the next edition is due out soon.

Alex Thomson has put together a fabulous compendium of key political issues stretching across the continent of Africa. It was such an invaluable tool to me that I would credit the entirety of my mark on my African Politics paper to it and some serious cramming. I did not use any other information though did have some background knowledge of Nigeria and Ghana. Having had an utterly useless African Politics tutor, I would definitely not have passed without this book but with it I scored my highest mark of any paper.

In particular I found the chapter on Botswana to be unbelievably helpful. A question on Botswana happened to come up on the paper for the first time the year I sat the exams and this fascinating country was covered so brilliantly by Thomson that I can still recite some of his phrases off-hand nearly a decade later.

For anyone at undergraduate level with a study of African Politics this is an overview that should never be overlooked.