A long-term specialist on Southern African affairs explores the history of conflict and cooperation--showing how a landlocked small state reduced its dependency upon its neighbors in a strategically important part of Southern Africa. Drawing upon first-hand information and primary sources--interviews, personal letters, newspaper reports, archival materials, among others--this analysis of low-high politics from colonial days and independence to the present defines how political leaders and citizenry made Bostwana one of the few stable democracies in Africa--one that has improved its economy and international standing over the last quarter century. Students, scholars, and policymakers concerned with world politics, international political economy, and African studies will find this study important for understanding the foreign policy options and policies of small and weak states today in Africa and in the international arena.

This book addressees the question of why the decolonization of Namibia was delayed from 1966 to 1989, the period of the war of independence, pitting the Namibian nationalists against the South African minority-ruled regime. The question is approached in terms of the diplomatic, economic, and military campaigns of the Namibian and South African protagonists. Such a framework facilitates comparison with several other decolonization wars that are referred to in the text. In addition, the book examines the aftermath of that war in Namibia in terms of the diplomatic, economic, and military changes in the newly independent nation. It draws upon data from the parliamentary debates of Namibia to document several facets of such post-independence changes in these three sectors. The format of the book also focuses on six particular questions, the answers to which provide a basis for further investigations of the decolonization process, particularly within the context of the African, comparative, and international subfields of political science.

For nearly three centuries the spectacular rise and fall of the South Sea Company has gripped the public imagination as the most graphic warning to investors of the dangers of unbridled speculation. Yet history repeats itself and the same elemental forces that drove up the price of South Sea shares to dizzying heights in 1720 have in recent years produced the global crash of 1987, the Japanese stock market bubble of the 1980s/90s, and the international dot.com boom of the 1990s. The First Crash throws light on the current debate about investor rationality by re-examining the story of the South Sea Bubble from the standpoint of investors and commentators during and preceding the fateful Bubble year. In absorbing prose, Richard Dale describes the trading techniques of London's Exchange Alley (which included 'modern' transactions such as derivatives) and uses new data, as well as the hitherto neglected writings of a brilliant contemporary financial analyst, to show how investors lost their bearings during the Bubble period in much the same way as during the dot.com boom. The events of 1720, as presented here, offer insights into the nature of financial markets that, being independent of place and time, deserve to be considered by today's investors everywhere. This book is therefore aimed at all those with an interest in the behavior of stock markets.