Introduction and overview

This chapter examines the limitations of recent trends in the African political economy of development and assesses the meaning, contribution and application of political settlements analysis. It then considers recent efforts to adapt political settlements thinking to African realities and reflect on how this informs the development of typologies to assess distinct development trajectories. Focusing in on the central issue of the book, the chapter then turns to the question of how to operationalise political settlement approaches for the analysis of agricultural transformation in contemporary Africa. This is followed by a summary of the findings of the three case studies, and a brief conclusion, which draws out key insights and provides an outline of the rest of the book.