This is an ambitious and broad-ranging history of Africa from the 1980s to the present, taking as its central theme the impact of global processes on Africa's development. The author identifies particular issues associated with globalization: the weakening of national sovereignty; unprecedented trans-national movement of populations, capital, and culture, the reconfiguration of international politics, the emergence of new social and political movements that recruit their followers across old frontiers, and finally, the environmental changes that reflect global patterns of climate change. The book explores how Africa's particular experiences of the past affected its response to these elements of globalization, illuminating developments in political, economic, social and cultural life.