Contradictions and priorities.

Miles Larmer, Peter Dwyer and Leo Zeiling, three top academics on social change in Africa, join forces to explore the role of social forces in leading democratic transformation in Southern Africa. Their extensive research includes interviews with social movement actors across post-colonial states including Zambia, Malawi, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Swaziland among others.

They look at the role popular social forces played from the initial post-colonial period to post-independence state with single party rule, to the transition to multi-party democracy. What are the challenges non-governmental organizations and local voluntary associations are facing? How do they confront the inequality of globalization and address local struggles for social justice? The book makes a significant effort to understand the amorphous nature of social movements at the institutional and grass roots level, as well as the particular context within which they appear.

These movements are spaces in which political change is expressed but they also reflect the contradictions and hierarchies of society and the various inequalities of resources, influence and education. Social Movement and Anti-Globalization in Africa will provide an insightful read for policy-makers and activists interested in understanding how NGOs, civil society organizations, campaigns, strikes and riots all play a part in finding local solutions to negative aspects of globalization in Africa.

Social Movements and Anti-Globalization in Africa, Miles Larmer, Peter Dwyer and Leo Zeilig, Haymarket Books, $17

–P. L.