We are pleased to bring you this 2001 edition of African Issues—a double issue that represents our initiation as the journal’s editors. This edition is devoted to an examination of ethnicity, arguably the most resilient and resurgent paradigm in African studies. The authors have explored the activation, manipulation, uses, and abuses of ethnicity in the context of competitive elections and struggles for power in Africa. We have assembled a nice mix of articles suggestive of the complexities inherent in the notion and practices of ethnicity, from Mauritania to Kenya, from Ethiopia to Cameroon and points in between. We hope that these articles will stimulate discussion and greater appreciation of the intersection of ethnicity, constitution making, recent competitive elections, and democratization around the continent.