After a period of stagnation and demoralisation in national political life, Malawi decisively turned a corner in 2019-2020.

For the first time in the history of southern Africa, the re-election of an incumbent President was successfully challenged in court and the opposition went on to win the re-run election.

This process was widely hailed as a triumph for democratic governance. It also exposed a wide range of governance issues that call for examination and analysis, and which are the topic of this book.

With contributions from Malawian, Zambian, Zimbabwean, British and American historians this book takes a scholarly as well as eyewitness look at the 1959/60 State of Emergency in Nyasaland. A key turning point in the growth and triumph of Malawian nationalism the contributors examine the Emergency and its significance in the modern political history of Malawi and its central African neighbours.