The collapse of Marxism in much of the Third World as well as Europe was so sudden and spectacular that it is hard to believe that in the space of seven years The Journal of Communist Studies could bring out special issues both on the creation of 'Military Marxist Regimes in Africa', and on their demise and the wider collapse of Marxist governments on the continent. This volume, first published in 1992, derives from a roundtable on the theme of 'The Retreat from Moscow: African and Eastern European Experiences of Disengagement from Marxism', held at the University of Birmingham in September 1991. The conference examined the recent experiences of African countries in transition from Marxism and Marxist-influenced ideologies to an uncertain future based on the market economy and a plural political system.

The collapse of Marxism in much of the Third World as well as Europe was so sudden and spectacular that it is hard to believe that in the space of seven years The Journal of Communist Studies could bring out special issues both on the creation of 'Military Marxist Regimes in Africa', and on their demise and the wider collapse of Marxist governments on the continent. This volume, first published in 1992, derives from a roundtable on the theme of 'The Retreat from Moscow: African and Eastern European Experiences of Disengagement from Marxism', held at the University of Birmingham in September 1991. The conference examined the recent experiences of African countries in transition from Marxism and Marxist-influenced ideologies to an uncertain future based on the market economy and a plural political system.

The only complete study of modern Gambian politics from the establishment of British rule to the overthrow of the Jawara government. A Political History of the Gambia: 1816-1994 is the first complete account of the political history of the former British West African dependency to be written. It makes use of much hitherto unconsulted or unavailable British and Gambian official and private documentary sources, as well as interviews with many Gambian politicians and former British colonial officials. The first part of the book charts the origins and characteristics of modern politics in colonial Bathurst (Banjul) and its expansion into the Gambian interior (Protectorate) in the two decades after World War II. By independence in 1965, older urban-based parties in the capital had been defeated bya new, rural-based political organisation, the People's Progressive Party (PPP). The second part of the book analyzes the means by which the PPP, under President Sir Dawda Jawara, succeeded in defeating both existing and new rival political parties and an attempted coup in 1981. The book closes with an explanation of the demise of the PPP at the hands of an army coup in 1994. The book not only establishes those distinctive aspects ofGambian political history, but also relates these to the wider regional and African context, during the colonial and independence periods.

A collection of poems whose fixation in time and subject matter ranges from the romantic to the political to the phantasmal. The images portrayed give a sense that years separate the events and emotions inspiring them. Though they are based on the experiences of one person still they seem to inspire in the reader something akin to dj vu which may occasionally cause the hair follicles to stand on end.