Sao Tome and Principe

Exorcising Devils from the Throne introduces a small African archipelago that is virtually unknown on the international stage, highlights its post-colonial problems, censures those who have caused or contributed to them, and proposes solutions.

Celebrating independence from Portugal in 1975, two tiny islands nestled by the coast of Western Africa have encountered rough seas. Charting the fortunes of the new nation and the ambitious lot that have found their way to the helm, the authors spare no one in their critique.

Very real practical problems face the island, starting with the financial mismanagement, despotism and illegal activities of Presidents Pinto da Costa, Miguel Trovoada and Fradique de Menezes; the failure to properly exploit the island s natural resources; issues of insularity in every sense; economic instability; and political illiteracy; which make this natural paradise a complete human misfortune.

And although their talk of the 'evil souls' of the country's rulers may seem to hint at religious zeal or even extremism, the authors have a point to make about the nature of those who often run governments for the benefit of an elite few rather than the good of all.

The sometimes flamboyant prose style is a refreshing break from the strict formality we might expect from a political treatise, as the authors employ metaphors to illustrate a factual and painful situation, rendering the picture they paint more vivid -- though it might be said that the facts are colorful enough: in the sections on STP s annual budget, petrol negotiations, etc., statistics and bibliographical references make their points plain.

One of the last titles in the "Marxist Regimes" series, this volume covers the two former Portuguese colonies of Mozambique and the archipelago of Sao Tome and Principe, which gained independence as single party states within a month of each other in 1975. After placing each state in its historical context, the authors then examine the social, economic and political aspects of the rule by the Frelimo party in Mozambique and the "Movimento de Libertacao de Sao Tome e Principe". Jens Erik Torp has drawn on his time working in the country to write on Mozambique. He focuses on the dynamics of industrial development and its relation to the agriculture, and sees the attempts made to change the country's international economic relations as being particularly significant. The economic situation in Sao Tome and Principe has also played a role in modifying the regime's ability to carry out its preferred policies. It is particularly vulnerable to fluctuations in the world price of cocoa.

This guide to the birds of Sao Tome e Principe, the first in both Portuguese and English, has the goal of making information on the unique bird fauna of the country available to a broader public. 95 bird species and subspecies found on the islands are presented. These were selected because they are known resident breeders or representative of important non-breeding groups such as shorebirds and other migrants. Some of the illustrated species are only occasional or stragglers but have been included to call attention to their occurrence and the need for more studies about them. Each bird has its scientific name listed, and in most cases the subspecies the populations of Sao Tome e Principe belong to. Subspecies endemic to the islands and showing distinctive morphology and/or songs, which could be considered full species by some taxonomical schemes, are indicated; along with local names, occurrence, data on breeding and information on genetic, morphological and ecological characteristics. Endemic species or subspecies are indicated and the conservation status of each taxon.

Colonized in the late 15th century, São Tomé and Príncipe were ruled by Portugal for 500 years, one of the longest periods of European domination in colonial history. In fact, during this period the Portuguese colonized the islands twice. Both colonizations were driven by the production of tropical cash crops; however, they occurred under rather different circumstances. Its long history as a plantation colony has made this African archipelago in many aspects more akin to the small Caribbean states. Since its decolonization in 1975 the small and impoverished country has experienced two fundamental changes to its political and economic system in a short period of 15 years. After embracing socialism and a centralized economy at independence, in 1990 the country introduced liberal democracy and a free-market economy. This case study analyses the course of political and economic changes in postcolonial São Tomé and Príncipe. The central issue of the book is to which extent institutional changes based on external models altered local patterns of political culture and of doing politics. In addition, it examines the outcome of the consecutive economic policies and development approaches patterned on theses models. This second edition has been completely revised and updated for the period of 1998-2005, including the recent developments in the country’s emerging oil sector.

This text is the history of the Portuguese island of Sao Tome from its discovery in 1470 to 1655 - its internal social and economic development and changing relations with the African mainland and the world trade system. Settled by Portuguese criminals, prostitutes, children of Jews, and African slaves, their mulatto descendents became a wealthy sugar-growing planter class, Europe's leading sugar suppliers in the 16th century. This study illustrates how the too-perfect adaptation of a small-scale society to its original economic relationships, issues of race, and the lack of alternatives caused by an entrenched ruling class which had lost its economic justification for rule, combine to create a destructive rigidity that can lead to social collapse and make effective amelioration impossible.

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