We summarise our findings by pointing out that, unlike earlier works, we believe both that it is possible for African peoples and governments to move beyond the mere management of ethnic, and other, difference, and that there is good evidence that they can themselves pursue this admittedly difficult task rather than, as others have suggested, under international supervision. Indeed, the comparative history of other parts of the world suggests that Africans must indeed rely on their own initiatives rather than on the experience of others.

This chapter suggests that social, political, institutional and demographic changes already observable in Africa hold out the possibility of national futures in which the manipulation of ethnic difference could cease to be the main route to political power. In the first of four sections it is argued that, although ethnic allegiances are powerful there are other, situational, identities round which human interests may gather. It is shown, secondly, that there is no single model or measure that can reliably relate ethnic diversity to economic development or the nature of governance. Since the early postcolonial years of “nation-building”, third, many civil society organisations have arisen in Africa, to promote not only ethnic interests but also such heterogeneous group identities as the urban poor in mega cities, women (often peacemakers), youth, and HIV/AIDS sufferers. While, finally, these organisations, including Pentecostal churches, may be led by “big men”, they nonetheless diversify and complicate the “big man” politics of ethnic difference that has rarely met such competition until now.