Abstract
The blurring of rural and urban space in Sub-Saharan Africa has
been a topical theme in recent years. Under economic duress, occupational
distinctions between the two have tended to disappear. It is often
inferred that burgeoning trade and service sector activities have
encouraged greater personal mobility and rural-urban linkages as
heightened movement of economic actors bridges the physical distance
between town and countryside. Meanwhile, the theme of globalization
applied to Africa has tended to suggest that physical distances
are contracting as cyberspace takes over. But amidst this debate,
the fluctuating cost of petrol as a key determinant of physical
movement and distance perception has largely been overlooked. This
paper examines Sub- Saharan Africa's rural and urban economies'
vulnerability to international oil price fluctuations, asking why
this factor has been downplayed. Possible future petrol price trends
and their effect on African rural and urban development are probed.
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