Readings in African Politics provides an overview of key topics and themes that collectively contribute to an understanding of politics in Africa. The selections included here come from a wide range of Western and non-Western sources and together represent core knowledge in the field of African politics. Topic areas covered are methods for appraising the modern African state, approaches to understanding African states and their politics, dimensions of regional conflict, conflict between traditional and modern values, the politics of new social forces, and the meaning of contemporary trends. An introductory essay by Tom Young sketches the terrain of politics in Africa from national and international efforts toward development to local problems such as corruption and ethnic conflict. Readers at all levels will find even-handed coverage of politics in sub-Saharan Africa’s more than 30 states from the early years of independence to today.