"Both political economy and foreign policy have been transformed in the sixteen states of West Africa at the start of the 1990s because of interrelated external factors ... and internal factors ... [This book offers] original revisionist insights into ECOWAS and ECOMOG, debt and democracy, reform and resistance ... [It] constitutes a comprehensive overview of West African actors, issues, structures, perspectives and possibilities at the end of the century." (Quoted from "Book overview")