ABSTRACT
Africa, like other third world regions, has experienced and continues to experience political changes of monumental proportions. Monumental, not in terms of the drastic restructuring of socio-economic and political spaces, but in the introduction of new forms of politics with potential for 'political deepening.' If we compare Africa's political landscape today to what it was at the beginning of the 1980s, one would almost fail to recognize it as the same continent. Not only have the contexts of politics and social action been altered significantly, but the discourse of politics has changed substantially. In fact, in many countries, the sites of politics have so profoundly affected that one can speak, though guidedly, of a 'political earthquake.' In paces such as Malawi, Benin, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and Mali, new questions are being asked, new issues are being raised, civil society is being gradually invigorated, new leaders are emerging, and the older order is under increasing pressure.
