This is a survey by specialists in international relations who adopt a number of fresh analytical perspectives on the Southern African region. The collection is drawn around the twin themes of regional security in Southern Africa and structural adjustment of the member states' economies. The essays are wide ranging, including studies of SADCC and the Front-Line States, the impact of constitutional change in South Africa and the changing nature of the BLS countries.

There are useful chapters on Mozambique and Angola and the conditions in Namibia since independence. The volume also looks at the changing political alliances produced by structural adjustment programmes and the likely impact of an ANC-led government in South Africa on the region's politics. The volume soberly questions the view that the region will be characterised by closer economic interdependence in the future, and raises the prospect that South Africa will act in its own state interests rather than as a hub of regional integration.

In a closing overview the volume argues that there will be no 'end of history' in the region but continuing conflict even after the disappearance of apartheid.