Ebrima:

Congratulations on completion of this much needed project. I'm looking
forward to getting my own copy. Any chance of getting it autographed? How
about a small discount for Gambia-L readers??...Oh well I just thought I
give it try...
Congratulations again for making this happen.

-BambaLaye
<quote who="Ebrima Ceesay">
> Dear readers,
>
> With only a few days to go before the next Presidential Election in The
> Gambia, I am very pleased to announce that I have written a book on
> Gambian
> Politics under Yahya Jammeh and it can now be purchased online.
>
> Published in Canada by Trafford Publishing, the book is titled: The
> Military
> and 'Democratisation' in The Gambia: 1994-2003. It has ten fascinating
> chapters and 345 pages. The size of the book is 6 inches x 9 inches and it
> is available in both trade paperback (softcover)  and hardcover. Take note
> of the fact that the hardcover is more expensive than the paperback
> (softcover). The book’s ISBN number is: 1-4251-0103-8.
>
> The book is available for sale online and it can be ordered online at
> www.trafford.com/06-1860
>
>
> Excerpts from the book can be seen/read on my webpage.
>
> Alternatively, you can ring Trafford UK or Trafford Canada and order the
> book over the phone. These are the contact addresses of Trafford UK and
> Trafford Canada:
>
> Trafford Publishing
> 2333 Government Street
> Suite 6E
> Victoria, British Columbia
> Canada, V8T 4P4
> Tel: 250 383 6864
> Toll Free: 1-888-232-4444 (from Canada and USA)
> Fax: 250 383 6814
>
> Or
>
> Trafford Publishing (UK) Ltd.
> 9 Park End Street, 2nd Floor
> Oxford, OX1 1HH
> United Kingdom
> Tel: 01865 722 113 or 0845 230 9601
> Fax: 01865 722 868
>
>
> This is a very thought provoking book on a very important subject/topic.
> In
> fact, it is the most comprehensive book ever written on the military and
> the
> democratisation process in The Gambia. It’s very well-written and there
> is,
> of course, a clear link between the theory and the very solid empirical
> evidence. Needless to mention, the theoretical framework is very clearly
> presented.
>
> This timely and incisive book provides an original and detailed analysis
> of
> the root causes of the 1994 coup d’etat in The Gambia, the motivations
> behind the juniors officers who seized power, as well as critically
> examines
> post-coup politics in The Gambia from 1996 to 2003.
>
> In other words, the book offers lucid, original, important and critical
> insights into our understanding of contemporary Gambian politics. Anyone
> who
> wishes to understand Gambian Politics under Yahya Jammeh is advised to buy
> this book. The study is also a valuable addition to the literature on the
> military and the democratisation process in Africa.
>
> My book will be a vital text for any student of African Politics who
> wishes
> to study Gambian Politics. It will be an essential guide for academic
> researchers, students, politicians, journalists and policy makers who wish
> to understand the nature and scope of the most recent political changes
> that
> occurred in The Gambia, in the wake of the 1994 coup d’etat.
>
> In a similar development, be informed that another important book on
> Gambian
> Politics/History will be released on 27th October 2006. The book is titled
> "A Political History of The Gambia, 1816-1994"and is written by Professor
> Arnold Hughes and Dr David Perfect, both Gambianists or
> experts/specialists
> in Gambian Affairs.
>
> Professor Arnold Hughes is former Director and Emeritus Professor of
> African
> Politics, Centre of West African Studies, University of Birmingham, UK.
> This
> 560-page book can also be ordered online at www.boydell.co.uk/80462308.HTM
>
>
> Anyone interested in the political history of The Gambia will find this
> book
> an important source of insight. The book should be core reading for anyone
> with an interest in Gambian Politics/History. It contains insightful and
> well-articulated analyses of pre- and post independence politics in The
> Gambia.
>
> Meanwhile, for more about my book, you can read the write-up below, culled
> from the webpage created by Trafford Publishing for my book.
>
> Regards,
>
> Ebrima Ceesay
>
>
> ABOUT THE BOOK:   The Military and ‘Democratisation’ in The Gambia:
> 1994-2003
>
> This book - The Military and ‘Democratisation’ in The Gambia: 1994-2003
> (By
> Ebrima Ceesay) - provides an account of significant political developments
> in a small West African country, The Gambia, about which such information
> is
> not readily available. It is a robustly written account of the very fluid
> politics of The Gambia over the last ten years since the coup that ousted
> President Dawda Jawara. The author is able to bring an enviable amount of
> first-hand understanding to the case at hand. He was a newspaper editor in
> The Gambia and also a correspondent there for the BBC.
>
> The book addresses a subject of much current interest in the wider
> development and policy-related literatures and much of the information
> makes
> an original contribution to knowledge in the area of democracy and
> military
> rule in The Gambia. The study thus constitutes an original contribution to
> the growing scholarship on The Gambia. It also makes a contribution to the
> existing literature on democratisation and the military in West Africa.
>
> The book undertakes the much needed research into recent political
> developments in The Gambia, and sets this in the wider context of West
> African politics. It provides an in-depth study of events in The Gambia
> prior to and post 1994 and examines The Gambian case in a theoretical
> context pertaining to Africa in general, and the West African sub-region
> in
> particular.
>
> The fundamental concern of this book is to determine whether it is
> possible
> for a nation to democratise under 'military' rule. Following the 1994 coup
> d’etat, The Gambia had military rule until 1997. After two Presidential
> elections, it remained under 'quasi-military' rule, the military having
> merely been thinly disguised in civilian clothes. The central argument of
> this book is that in the case of The Gambia, it has not been possible to
> democratise under either ‘military’ or ‘quasi-military’ rule. The country
> is
> far from being democratic and the democratisation process has barely
> begun.
> The Gambia operates under an authoritarian regime with strong military
> overtones.
>
> The 1994 coup d’etat in The Gambia took place at a time when most of
> Africa
> was moving towards democratisation. At the same time, The Gambia moved
> away
> from democratisation and into military dictatorship. This Gambian
> 'exceptionalism' in recent regional, continental and global political
> development is explained and analysed in the book. The study presents a
> conceptual and empirical analysis of the recent 'democratisation'
> processes
> under the military and military-turned civilian regimes in The Gambia. It
> uses conceptual or analytical insights, drawn from the general literature
> on
> military regimes in Africa, to inform understanding of the case study. The
> book raises a number of very pertinent questions concerning the place of
> the
> military in a modern African polity, and the varied contexts and contested
> nature of this role.
>
> The book sets out to assess the military regime that seized power in The
> Gambia in July 1994, and which remains in power to the present day -
> having
> formally converted itself into an "elected" civilian regime through
> managed
> elections from which the military leader emerged victorious.
>
> It is broadly concerned with four themes: a) pre-independence politics in
> The Gambia, the Jawara years and the causes of his overthrow; b) the coup
> d’etat that brought the military regime to power on 22 July 1994; c) the
> subsequent conduct of the military regime, with particular concern for its
> attempt to legitimise itself through elections; and d) the question of
> whether The Gambia can be regarded as a democracy, to which the author has
> returned a decided negative.
>
> Four main questions are posed. What were the causes of the military coup
> in
> The Gambia? What were the various phases of military rule? How has the
> military performed in office? Has The Gambia returned to a functioning
> democratic state following the 1996 and 2001 elections? The findings
> indicate that the military intervention was prompted by a combination of
> political, economic and social problems in the country.
>
> The 1994 coup d’etat in The Gambia is best seen as the outcome of two main
> variables: the societal/economic/political factors which made military
> intervention a possibility, set against the motivations of junior officers
> of the Gambia National Army to intervene in the government of The Gambia
> because of their own dissatisfactions and possible personal aspirations.
> Direct military rule was in two phases and the military’s leadership
> performance was poor in respect of human and civil rights in both phases,
> although there were some modest gains in socio-economic terms. Despite the
> holding of elections, The Gambia remains undemocratic.
>
> The study is based on newspaper reports, interviews and the author’s own
> experiences as a journalist in The Gambia until his departure from the
> country in 1996, together with published sources. The empirical element in
> the book is accompanied by a survey of literature in the field, notably
> relating to military regimes in general, and especially in Africa. The
> treatment of empirical developments and academic sources in the book is
> both
> descriptive and conceptual.
>
> The ten chapters (including a general conclusion) which make up the book
> are
> logically structured; general aims and objectives, which are clearly
> identified in the introductory chapter, are pursued in a sustained way in
> the subsequent discussion. Early presentations of approach, objectives and
> strategy combine with overviews of pre-1994 politics and economics in the
> opening two chapters.
>
> Along with the summary of the circumstances surrounding the military’s
> intervention in politics in 1994 (Chapter 3), these serve as a prelude to
> the detailed evaluation of the military’s performance in government; and
> the
> circumstances, processes and consequences of the army’s transformation
> into
> a "democratic" civilian (in reality a "quasi-military") regime, which
> constitutes the middle third, and core, of the book.
>
> The final third of the book focuses on the fortunes of both democracy and
> politics under a quasi-military regime, and tries to draw lessons from
> this
> experience for a serious consideration of the role of the military in
> democratic politics. The penultimate chapter offers recommendations for
> deterring future coups in The Gambia and elsewhere in Africa, while a
> general conclusion presents a cogent summary of the principal findings and
> conclusions.
>
> ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
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-- 
-BambaLaye
==============================================
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
-Martin Luther King Jr.

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