The report by the Commonwealth Observer Group of the 2001 Gambian elections. Illustrated with b/w photographs. Tables, notes, 31pp. COMMONWEALTH SECRETARIAT, 0850927161

Emphasizes the pre-colonial expansion of production through migrant labour, local domestic producers and European merchants who created a credit system and the means of collecting produce. The trade was also shaped by fluctuations in world market prices. By the early 20th century the British Administra-tion was trying to manage a migrant driven economy requiring imported food, and a deteriorating climate, exacerbated by. The First World War and the following Trade depression. 250pp, NETHERLANDS. E J BRILL.

First complete account of the political history of the former British West African dependency to be written. It makes use of much hitherto not consulted or unavailable British and Gambian official and private documentary sources, as well as interviews with many Gambian politicians and former British colonial officials. The first part of the book charts the origins and characteristics of modern politics in colonial Bathurst (Banjul) and its expansion into the Gambian interior (Protectorate) in the two decades after World War II. By independence in 1965, older urban-based parties in the capital had been defeated by a new, rural-based political organisation, the People's Progressive Party (PPP). The second part of the book analyses the means by which the PPP, under President Sir Dawda Jawara, succeeded in defeating both existing and new rival political parties and an attempted coup in 1981. The book closes with an explanation of the demise of the PPP at the hands of an army coup in 1994. Index, bib, notes, apps, 530pp, USA. UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER PRESS.