Editorial: Globality and Locality

Abstract

This issue of West Africa Review brings you engaging analyses of the theory and practice of globalism. Amin Alhassan illuminates the not so bright corners of the deregulation and privatization processes of the telecom industry in Ghana. Teju Olaniyan examines the implication of new theories of global relations for people who reside outside of the main metropolitan centers of capitalism. Osita Agbu dissects the global tentacles of human trafficking in Nigeria. Olaniyan says, "Globality and the global diaspora seem to be an unequal and one-way traffic." Compare these words to Alhassan's on the European model of privatization being applied to Ghana's telecom industry: "Europe . . . is now using the market model after successfully using the state to put in place the basic telecom infrastructure." Both articles speak eloquently and passionately about the prospects and problems Africa has to counterbalance in order to profit from contemporary global economic and political constellations.