Development is not just an economic issue or improvements in GDP and household incomes; it is also about social protection and how power and social differences are organised and managed for the benefit of all. With insights on Sierra Leone and wider Africa contexts, the 45 essays in this volume throw light on the challenges of building developmental, democratic and cohesive states and societies. Written in accessible prose, it targets the general reader and draws on a rich body of development research and policy analysis spanning more than 40 years. Issues as diverse as poverty, inequality, employment, natural resource governance, social policy, financing development, state reform, gendered development, Ebola, female circumcision, electoral politics, the Arab Spring, ethnicity, civil war and security are treated with fresh and engaging insights.