The inaugural issue of EPSJ - conflict or development? - has a regional focus on Africa. Joseph Stiglitz discusses the role of information in conflict and draws a fascinating analogy between civil strife and a labor strike. Paul Collier and Neil Cooper take different positions on the prospects for reforming war economies, and E. Wayne Nafziger gives details of the evolution of humanitarian emergencies. In the two country studies, Tilman Bruck examines the destruction and reconstruction of Mozambique, and Manuel Ennes Ferreira discusses the civil war in Angola. J. Paul Dunne tells the story of South Africa's defense contractor Denel from its origins under apartheid until today, and David Gold describes the context and history of the current actions against "conflict diamonds."