This book is an outcome of the workshop on Political Theory and Policy Analysis, held in Indiana, during the 1985/86. It seeks to explains why the centralized African state has failed and discusses the breakdown of social processes indirectly caused by the policies of the centralized state.

Preface -- The Failure of the Centralized African State -- Foundations of Centralization: The Colonial Experience and the African Context -- Centralization and Development in Post-Independence Africa -- The Failure of Current Decentralization Programs in Africa -- African Economic Performance: Current Programs and Future Failures -- State Tutelage vs. Self-Governance: The Rhetoric and Reality of Decentralization in Senegal -- Proprietary Authority and Local Administration in Liberia -- Centralization and Development in Eastern Africa -- Centralization, Self-Governance, and Development in Nigeria -- The Problem of Sovereignty in Human Affairs -- Reciprocity and Governance in Africa -- Beyond the Failure of the Centralized State: Toward Self-Governance and an Alternative Institutional Paradigm -- Conclusion: Self-Governance and African Development