ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book examines the regional continuity and the change at a range of scales and from a diverse range of perspectives: they have effectively explored various West African worlds and, more importantly, offered these for our scrutiny. In West Africa, as elsewhere on the continent, the key challenge confronting the development planner or policy maker, or, indeed, the urban inhabitant or rural producer, is the basic one related to securing and sustaining a livelihood within the context of dynamic change, usually involving but not restricted to, globalisation and neo-liberalism. The idea of an African renaissance or rebirth is one which is probably most readily associated with Nelson Mandela and his successor Thabo Mbeki; although an increasing number of African and non-African leaders and institutions did also adopt or invoke the notion.
