Since 1974 the Review of African Political Economy has provided radical analysis of trends, issues and social processes in Africa, adopting a broadly materialist interpretation of change. Check out our longer bio at https://roape.net/about-roape/https://bsky.app/profile/roapejournal.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/roapejournal.bsky.social/post/3mwpybtesl22qJoin the online book launch of the African edition of 'What is the Real Marxist Tradition?', 18:30 GMT 22 Oct. Discuss Marxism's impact in Africa & explore new & radical perspectives for the continent’s political social movements & struggles. https://roape.net/2026/09/30/what-is-the-real-marxist-tradition-in-africa/30 Sep 2026 09:02 +0000at://did:plc:fsp2auuggwuvricyfj4a7v5w/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwpybtesl22qhttps://bsky.app/profile/roapejournal.bsky.social/post/3mwdi7lnvns2lRich Mallett argues that for Uganda’s boda boda workers ‘financial inclusion’ schemes promise ownership & entrepreneurship but in practice turn the dream of being your own boss into a precarious & often temporary escape from exploitation. https://roape.net/2026/09/25/the-price-of-becoming-your-own-boss-in-ugandas-boda-boda-industry/25 Sep 2026 09:43 +0000at://did:plc:fsp2auuggwuvricyfj4a7v5w/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwdi7lnvns2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/roapejournal.bsky.social/post/3mvrp4v7l2k2lIn this new post for roape.net, James Akpu argues the underlying logics of a colonial wartime potato scheme in Nigeria’s highlands continue to reproduce themselves in so-called ‘food security’ programmes across the African continent today. https://roape.net/2026/09/18/food-security-or-seed-capture-the-colonial-potato-and-africas-seed-wars/18 Sep 2026 07:58 +0000at://did:plc:fsp2auuggwuvricyfj4a7v5w/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvrp4v7l2k2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/roapejournal.bsky.social/post/3mvmrjrhvk22sIn the current moment, developing & deepening our understanding of US-led #imperialism is an urgent task for radical forces everywhere. In this spirit, ROAPE offers a curated selection of ten open-access publications on the topic from our archives: https://roape.net/2026/09/16/charting-the-evolution-of-us-led-imperialism-1974-2026/16 Sep 2026 08:58 +0000at://did:plc:fsp2auuggwuvricyfj4a7v5w/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvmrjrhvk22shttps://bsky.app/profile/roapejournal.bsky.social/post/3mv37tpabd22fAfrican workers are deeply entrenched in a global system of migrant-labour exploitation & trafficking. Their experiences – from Gulf households to Myanmar’s scam compounds – expose the same recurring problem: what does a right to leave mean if workers cannot safely use it? https://roape.net/2026/09/09/african-migrant-workers-who-cannot-return/09 Sep 2026 09:26 +0000at://did:plc:fsp2auuggwuvricyfj4a7v5w/app.bsky.feed.post/3mv37tpabd22fhttps://bsky.app/profile/roapejournal.bsky.social/post/3muwn74rlag2hAs part of our efforts to renew our ranks with radical African scholar-activists from the continent or the diaspora we introduce ROAPE's newest Editorial Working Group Affiliate, Abdoulie Kurang, who describes himself as an organic intellectual buff.ly/7EA3yji07 Sep 2026 13:42 +0000at://did:plc:fsp2auuggwuvricyfj4a7v5w/app.bsky.feed.post/3muwn74rlag2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/roapejournal.bsky.social/post/3mujkost3u22yWriting for roape.net, Abiola Isikalu argues that Burkina Faso is extending state control over citizens by treating education & mobility as security threats, conditioning belonging on perceived loyalty rather than actual conduct. https://roape.net/2026/09/02/before-there-is-anything-to-punish-burkina-fasos-new-citizenship-question/02 Sep 2026 08:52 +0000at://did:plc:fsp2auuggwuvricyfj4a7v5w/app.bsky.feed.post/3mujkost3u22yhttps://bsky.app/profile/roapejournal.bsky.social/post/3mtsvgbu4pk2wWe break our annual shutdown to bring this urgent piece of writing from ROAPE's Leo Zeilig. "Professor Arday is dead. Murdered. Yet again another Black person has been killed – pilloried in a public execution orchestrated by a profoundly racist press & organised fascists" https://roape.net/2026/08/24/the-murder-of-professor-jason-arday/24 Aug 2026 08:33 +0000at://did:plc:fsp2auuggwuvricyfj4a7v5w/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtsvgbu4pk2whttps://bsky.app/profile/roapejournal.bsky.social/post/3msia3gip4k2yIn our last post before our August shutdown, Stephanie Kitchen & David Mills argue that since the 1990s, donors & multinational publishers have entrenched an extraverted academic publishing economy across Africa. https://roape.net/2026/08/07/the-extraversion-of-african-academic-journals/07 Aug 2026 09:20 +0000at://did:plc:fsp2auuggwuvricyfj4a7v5w/app.bsky.feed.post/3msia3gip4k2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/roapejournal.bsky.social/post/3msddgrw6l52dIn this piece, Nishant Upadhyay asserts that developments in Burkina Faso have facilitated a repoliticisation of political economy, including everyday life, through mass mobilisation. https://roape.net/2026/08/05/burkina-faso-and-the-return-of-political-economy/05 Aug 2026 10:36 +0000at://did:plc:fsp2auuggwuvricyfj4a7v5w/app.bsky.feed.post/3msddgrw6l52dhttps://bsky.app/profile/roapejournal.bsky.social/post/3mrwq47y7lr2nMalick Doucouré argues that the recent anti-LGBT crackdowns in pro-Pan-African governments are about elites manufacturing unity against a fake external threat to absolve their failure to fix the economy. He argues it's time to reclaim the Pan-Africanism of Nkrumah & Sankara. buff.ly/hOFlOzV https://roape.net/2026/07/31/the-homophobia-of-pan-african-regimes/31 Jul 2026 10:18 +0000at://did:plc:fsp2auuggwuvricyfj4a7v5w/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrwq47y7lr2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/roapejournal.bsky.social/post/3mrrjnwuk3c2sIn this new blog for roape.net, Shevonne Henry & Erick Mwale argue Africa’s informal sector, not the traditional industrial working class, is emerging as the continent’s most important revolutionary force. https://roape.net/2026/07/29/beyond-marx/29 Jul 2026 08:40 +0000at://did:plc:fsp2auuggwuvricyfj4a7v5w/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrrjnwuk3c2shttps://bsky.app/profile/roapejournal.bsky.social/post/3mr7zyukklk2qIn this editorial, ROAPE's Ray Bush introduces Issue 188. Bush argues that US warmongering is intimately connected to events on the African continent, driving up energy costs, worsening Africa’s debt & hunger crises, & reinforcing its structural dependence. https://roape.net/2026/07/22/war/22 Jul 2026 09:44 +0000at://did:plc:fsp2auuggwuvricyfj4a7v5w/app.bsky.feed.post/3mr7zyukklk2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/roapejournal.bsky.social/post/3mqqrmmqn2p2nOffering his reflections on the first chapter of ‘The Big Conservation Lie’, James Mulei raises questions of symbolic power in the domain of wildlife conservation. https://roape.net/2026/07/16/of-heroes-and-hero-worship-some-musings-on-the-first-chapter-of-the-big-conservation-lie-by-john-mbaria-and-mordecai-ogada/16 Jul 2026 08:04 +0000at://did:plc:fsp2auuggwuvricyfj4a7v5w/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqqrmmqn2p2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/roapejournal.bsky.social/post/3mqlvqrn4hk2c🚨New journal issue alert! Volume 53 Issue 188 June 2026 War Pages: 129-279 Issue Editor: Ray Bush All articles, briefings and debates available to access, read and download for free from anywhere in the world 👇🏿 https://mailchi.mp/3d77c8c31fc4/roape-newsletter-issue-1656818514 Jul 2026 09:35 +0000at://did:plc:fsp2auuggwuvricyfj4a7v5w/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqlvqrn4hk2chttps://bsky.app/profile/roapejournal.bsky.social/post/3mqjfhakurs27In the final instalment on cashew capitalism, Klas Lundström Martínez argues that Guinea-Bissau’s colonial cashew monoculture created a permanent system of economic dependency, with women’s invisible labour holding the entire economy together. https://roape.net/2026/07/13/cashew-capitalism-part-two/13 Jul 2026 09:38 +0000at://did:plc:fsp2auuggwuvricyfj4a7v5w/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqjfhakurs27https://bsky.app/profile/roapejournal.bsky.social/post/3mq4raulipc25Peter Cole traces how Soweto’s Black students ignited a nationwide revolt against apartheid in June 1976, reshaping South Africa’s political future. https://roape.net/2026/07/08/soweto-students-rise-up-against-apartheid/08 Jul 2026 09:05 +0000at://did:plc:fsp2auuggwuvricyfj4a7v5w/app.bsky.feed.post/3mq4raulipc25https://bsky.app/profile/roapejournal.bsky.social/post/3mpxyh7ofmk2iIn the 1st of a 2-part instalment, Klas Lundström Martínez argues Guinea-Bissau’s ongoing crisis is shaped by circumstances rooted in the colonial era & the country’s failed attempts to break with its historical role as a cheap commodity producer for the Western world. https://roape.net/2026/07/06/cashew-capitalism-part-one/06 Jul 2026 11:30 +0000at://did:plc:fsp2auuggwuvricyfj4a7v5w/app.bsky.feed.post/3mpxyh7ofmk2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/roapejournal.bsky.social/post/3mpo6mpapng2760 years since Osendé Afana (1930-1966) was assassinated fighting Cameroon's neo-colonial state. Loic Gapin's blog revisits his 1966 book on how imperialism stifled African development — and why the problem hasn't gone away. buff.ly/XGyYjRK https://roape.net/2026/07/02/the-visionary-political-economy-of-osende-afana-1930-1966/02 Jul 2026 13:54 +0000at://did:plc:fsp2auuggwuvricyfj4a7v5w/app.bsky.feed.post/3mpo6mpapng27https://bsky.app/profile/roapejournal.bsky.social/post/3mpftr353nc2wn this piece, ROAPE announces the 2026 winner of the Ruth Prize, Zimbabwean scholar and activist Antonater Tafadzwa Choto https://roape.net/2026/06/29/roape-ruth-first-prize-2026/29 Jun 2026 06:18 +0000at://did:plc:fsp2auuggwuvricyfj4a7v5w/app.bsky.feed.post/3mpftr353nc2w