A new major publication - the Oxford Encyclopaedia of African Politics - contains many important chapters that make the same point on a wide variety of topics.

Yet, while the continent features more than its fair share of authoritarian repression, in some respects African countries are leading the way.

In all these cases a combination of good leadership, institution building, and the support of ordinary people for democratic values has enabled African states to change their futures for the better.

A major casualty of the tendency to overlook the creativity and contributions of African leaders and intellectuals is the neglect of African political thought.

This is one reason why many African intellectuals have been attracted to the idea of the African renaissance.