ABSTRACT
Much of tropical Africa has not actually been developing in the last twenty years. On the contrary, many countries have experienced a marked deterioration in their national economic situation and in the living standards of the majority of their people. Why has this happened? What has gone wrong? These questions have been the subject of much writing and speculation and many different viewpoints have been presented. There are those who blame the legacy of colonialism, others who focus on the effects of the mid1970s oil crisis, others who stress problems of political and economic mismanagement, others who criticize multinational companies and the imposition of structural adjustment programmes and, last but by no means least, others who believe environmental factors are the root cause of Africa’s current predicament. Detailed examination of the experiences of a number of countries would reveal that in fact there are complex reasons for the current difficulties and it would be unwise to single out any factor.
