Eight of Africa's most distinguished scholars present reflections and cross-sectional analyses of the social, political and economic transformations in Africa since the end of the 1980s. The papers were presented at the 7th General Assembly of CODESRIA in Dakar; and the contributors have all been integral to the development and consolidation of CODESRIA's scientific pre-eminence. The papers monitor, identify and name the logic and dynamics of the current changes, and examination is made of the foundations of democratic discourses to determine their structuring. The contributors are Archie Mafeje, Eboe Hutchful, Eshetu Chole, Jibrin Ibrahim, Kankwenda Mbaya, Mahmood Mamdani, Peter Anyang'Nyong'o, and Thandika Makandawire.