ABSTRACT
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, it is clear that the countries of sub-Saharan Africa face a variety of severe economic, social and political problems. These range from outright armed conflict through constrained economic performance and widespread poverty; local instances of severe environmental degradation; the collapse, to varying degrees, of the post-Second World War experiment in universal primary education and health care provision; reduction in the capacity of the state to guide and lead development activity; shaky steps towards democratic, corruption-free government; to new or resurgent disease pandemics.
