In the preface to the special issue on Africa which we published in March 2006 (Harris, 2006), we indicated that in future issues of the journal we hoped to publish more articles on the economic, political, and social challenges faced by the people of Africa, and to publish more contributions from the present generation of African scholars. Seven years later, we are now dedicating two consecutive issues of the journal to a series of articles written by African authors that provide critical perspectives on important issues of development and social change in contemporary Africa. These two issues reflect the continuing commitment of the Journal of Developing Societies (JDS) to provide our readers with new information and critical perspectives on contemporary issues of development and social change in Africa written by authors from this important area of the world.