ABSTRACT
Political processes in Africa display a complex image of governmental enfeeblement, growing societal activity beyond the reach of the state and heterogeneous forms of political reordering. State institutions in Africa have undergone a cycle of attempted consolidation, the entrenchment of hegemonic domination and deterioration, if not disintegration. The combination of centralization, proliferation, personalization and social inequality has, all contributors concur, severely hampered the effectiveness of the state machinery in many parts of the continent. The whittling away of the pre-eminence of state institutions perforce redirects attention away from the central arena and to other, usually subnational, units of socioeconomic and political exchange. The deterioration of formal institutional networks and the assertion of a variety of survival mechanisms together have implied adaptations in the form of political relations. Many observers of the African political arena have expressed genuine frustration over their inability to pinpoint processes and explain their progression.
