In early 2004, 29% of Namibian Members of Parliament were women, putting Namibia fourth in continental Africa and seventeenth worldwide in terms of women's representation in a national legislature. This article sets out to determine how such a high percentage of women has been elected to the National Assembly in Namibia since independence. It suggests that electoral gains have been achieved through a combination of factors: the use of a closed list proportional representation electoral system and voluntary quotas on the part of political parties at the national level, sustained pressure over the past three to five years from a nascent women's movement influenced by the global women's movement, and the active participation of women inside and outside the country in a protracted and violent struggle for independence that was only attained in 1990. The first two factors confirm past experience and accumulated knowledge on the significance of choice of electoral system and use of quotas, and the importance of women's organisations to elected women's legislative agendas and success. The last factor deviates from experience, and from a literature that suggests that women's active participation in political struggles has not always translated into tangible gains for women.

This article addresses the theme of entrepreneurship in Africa by focusing on second-hand car markets in Cotonou, Bénin. At first glance this booming business seems to confirm neo-liberal and institutional models of entrepreneurship, in which entrepreneurial behaviour constitutes rational calculation in a situation of economic opportunity. The universe in which African car traders operate, however, is characterised by significant capital scarcity, dramatic losses and widespread bankruptcies. The article argues that viewing entrepreneurs as economic calculators is not the proper way to understand the Cotonou car trade. Based on case analysis of a Béninese car trader, it shows that the outcome of car trading in Cotonou is determined by the manipulation of social contacts, characterised by self-interest and distrust among business partners. Analogous to the Klondike gold rush, it appears that the car trader's engagement with the trade is to a large extent motivated by the dream of making a fortune. Thus, even though entrepreneurial failure is widespread among African car traders, most of them remain convinced that car trading can yield significant profits.

A major financial problem in many municipalities in South Africa is the inadequate collection of service charges due to widespread non-payment. The prevailing view is that non-compliance is caused by poverty and the existence of an ‘entitlement culture’. However, huge variations in compliance exist both within poor communities and between communities with similar socio-economic characteristics. How can these differences be explained? Moreover, what factors determine citizens' compliance? This paper argues that non-payment is related not only to inability to pay and ‘a culture of entitlement’, but also to whether citizens perceive the local government to act in their interest. In particular, three dimensions of trust may affect citizens' compliance: (1) trust in the local government to use revenues to provide expected services; (2) trust in the authorities to establish fair procedures for revenue collection and distribution of services; and (3) trust in other citizens to pay their share.

The European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has long been criticised for its price-distorting impact on world markets. Pressure to reform the CAP emanated previously from domestic European concerns over the costs, efficacy and efficiency of the policy and, internationally, from countries whose competitive advantage was undermined. More recently developing countries, NGOs, multilateral institutions and development agencies have orchestrated a campaign to liberalise European agriculture, in the expectation that developing countries will benefit from a shift in production away from high-cost European producers. But it would be naïve to think of liberalisation as bringing universal benefits to the developing world. Inevitably, under any system of regulation, market or intervention, there will be a complex pattern of winners and losers. This paper examines the impacts of Europe's sugar policy on southern Africa and finds, somewhat surprisingly, that the region stands to benefit more from a preservation of the status quo than from liberalisation.

This article attempts to understand why ethnic-regional civil war has challenged the national unity of Côte d'Ivoire and not Ghana, two neighbouring countries with nearly identical ethnic, religious and regional divisions, by examining politics at the grassroots. Based on a carefully controlled comparison of two similar regions of Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, the study investigates how participation in local voluntary associations reinforces the local experience of the state to shape the ongoing development of political values and affect the prospects for ethnic peace and democracy. The article finds that participation in ethnically heterogeneous voluntary associations does not necessarily promote democratic values and practice. In fact, in Côte d'Ivoire, participation in ethnically heterogeneous cocoa producer and mutual assistance organisations reinforces vertical patronage networks based on narrower ethnic identities. In contrast, in Ghana, participation in more ethnically homogeneous local church groups encourages the development of democratic values and practices at the local level that mediate the potential for ethnic conflict and support the consolidation of a democratic regime.

State/civil society interaction in Botswana displays patterns characterised by mutual criticism in each other's presence, the willingness of state officials to meet and exchange views with non-state leaders, and the media's role of reminding the contestants to meet and exchange views. The Botswana political culture compels/constrains contestants to meet and exchange views rather than to disengage and resort to the trading of unpleasant remarks in the media and to industrial action on the street. The theoretical implication is that political culture vitally shapes state/civil society interaction and should not be ignored by researchers who seek to define/characterise strong/weak civil societies.